To Hell and Back
by Skye-Blue 101
Summary: Drabble- ish. Speculation for 5b. Emma dives headfirst into Hell to save Killian, determined not to leave without him, but in getting him out of The Underworld, is she really just bringing Hell to Storybrooke?
1. Chapter 1

Her whole body was stiff and straight, as if she was getting over the shock of a livewire, still too stunned to move. And that was exactly what she was. She was stunned, completely and utterly floored. Who would have thought, that after the ridiculously boring, normal, altogether _shitty_ life she used to lead, that _this_ would be the outcome?

She was on a mission, a mission deemed fit for a movie. And if she was being honest with herself, if it were anywhere else, anyone else, she would have been scoffing at the absurdity of it all.

She sat in a long, narrow boat, surrounded by her family, a bandit, a shepherd, a sorceress, and an outlaw. Too bad the dark one couldn't join them, but _oh no_ , heaven forbid he do something for someone else, after all, he _was_ the one who had rendered her love's sacrifice completely useless.

And there was the crux of it, saving her true love from the pits of Hell itself.

What was this life? Sometimes, mostly in the beginning of her stay in the magical little town known as Storybrooke, she would pinch herself, screw her eyes tightly shut. She wondered if, eventually, she would wake up to a place where she wasn't a princess, where her parents weren't Snow White and Prince Charming.

Of course things changed when she realized the true depths of her feelings for her pirate. Yeah, that's right, her true love _Captain Hook._

The dense fog surrounding the boat, slowly gave way around them, enough so that the group could finally make out their path. Somehow they had reached the point where the pond was no longer a pond, but instead, a wide river; at least, she _thought_ it was wide. The fog was far too dense to tell. The one thing she did know for sure, the one thing she could see through the haze was the river itself.

The river of what she could only wish wasn't blood. Why not? After all, they _were_ going to hell.

"We will find him, Emma," Snow's calming voice brought her out of her thoughts. "And we will bring him back with us. In this family, _we always find each other._ "

 **A/N- So here we have it, my first OUaT fanfiction. I'm not sure how long it will be, but there is definitely more to come. It will probably end somewhere around where I imagine the fifth season will end. This is all just speculation.**

 **-S.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N- Um, daily updates, I guess… hopefully I can keep up.**

"So, savior, you got a plan up your sleeve, or are we just hacking through this _lovely_ forest for fun?" Regina asked, sounding rather irritated. It wasn't that she wanted to sound well, like the royal bitch she used to be, but it was a hard habit to break.

"I'm working on it," Emma replied, slightly annoyed. It wasn't exactly her fault that their little rescue party hadn't made much progress. The whole place was a wasteland, dark and depressing, just as Hell should be. The forest wasn't much of a forest in any respect, just a bunch of bare trees, and dying plants. And apparently, there wasn't anything for miles.

 _Great, just great,_ Emma thought, _at least sailing down the river of blood, it looked like we were getting somewhere._

Sometime later, it was impossible to tell when, thanks to the eternally dark sky, (Emma wondered if the sun ever rose, if the clouds ever dissipated here) the group stopped, finally realizing that their only real chance was to come up with a plan. Emma slumped to the dead earth with a sigh. They were getting nowhere, and she was _tired_ ; not just physically, though her muscles did ache, she also happened to be at a mental road block, and emotionally tormented.

After a moment, David sat beside her. "You know, those furies have to be coming from somewhere," he started, and surprisingly, she couldn't tell if he had an idea, or if he was just trying to make her feel better. "Think about it; we're in The Underworld."

"I know, Dad," Emma threw back at him, wanting nothing more than to go home, and fall into a fitful sleep next to a tub of Ben and Jerry's. _God_ , to be home, to sleep in her own bed, with Henry only a moment away; she missed it. She missed it almost enough to actually think about turning around. Only one thought stood in her way; _Killian._ She refused to leave without him.

" _What I mean is,"_ he over annunciated, "Hades controls the furies, right?" At her minute nod, he continued, "They're his henchmen, if you will."

"Are you going anywhere with this, _Your Highness_?" Regina piped up, but she didn't get very far, as both Robin and Snow sent her angry little glares. She shut up; after all, she was out numbered here.

"They're everywhere. If we found one, we could follow it," he explained.

"Without getting killed?" Regina hedged, not really liking the plan. She didn't need to die, not now, and besides, her magic was acting a bit strange there, and for the first time in a long time, she was actually sort of _afraid_.

"It's as good a plan as any," Emma replied for him. For a split second, her carefully laid façade cracked, and Snow nearly winced at the utter brokenness on her daughter's face. "I'll try anything."


	3. Chapter 3

As it turns out, it's much harder to locate a fury than one would think. The group wandered aimlessly for what must have been a few days with absolutely no luck. Robin had reasoned that if they continued on the same path, then they were bound to run into something sooner or later. Emma (and everyone else) was hoping for the first option.

Things were getting bad, and she was wondering if her terrible dreams and anxiety were just getting worse, or if it was some twisted side effect of this place. Maybe this was what The Underworld did; exploited your worst fears until you went mad. She was already halfway there.

Instead of finding a fury directly, they found a village. It was a strange thing to see, this quaint little town smack dab in the middle of a dead forest. A forest that also happened to be smack dab in the middle of Hell. _How could someone possibly have any kind of normal life here?_ Snow wondered as they came upon the little settlement.

As they drew nearer, Emma had the sinking suspicion that she was walking right into the middle of a horror movie. David rationalized that they were just people, ( _dead_ people, Emma amended in her head) and that they were just going to ask someone for information. _Yeah right,_ Emma thought, _Could some poor soul please give us directions to Hades?_

It was an unspoken expectation that they were going to need to go through the King of Hell if they ever wanted to leave.

Upon closer inspection, the group could hear screaming, the most agonized screaming any of them had ever heard. Without even consulting each other, Emma and David pulled their swords free, (Emma had taken to carrying Killian's cutlass around) and Robin and Snow readied their bows. Regina brought up the rear, still unsure about using her magic.

The village was being completely torn apart by a couple of furies, and the group wasted no time at all jumping into the middle of it all.

Robin, having a previous grudge with the terrible winged creatures, sent arrow after arrow at one of them, effectively pinning it to the ground. In an instant, David was on top of it, decapitating it, causing a few of the spirits, the brave ones, who stuck around, to cheer.

Meanwhile, Emma and Snow converged on the other demon as Regina tried and failed to end the thing with magic.

The fury darted down in a flash, pinning Emma to the ground, and as it looked at her, she began to grow weak. _Could you really die in The Underworld?_ She wondered.

Suddenly, her mother was on top of the beast, doing her best to pull it off of Emma. "Don't kill it," David called, helping his wife. When they eventually got it off of her, and helped her to her feet, David spoke again. "We need to follow that one," As he said that, they watched as the fury fled. Good, now they had a bit of direction.

"What did that thing do to me?" Emma asked to no one in particular, trying to catch her breath and make sure that she was alright.

"Hades wants souls," Regina reminded them. "I think it was trying to take yours," At once, all eyes were on the queen. "That book with the information on furies said that Hades keeps a collection of souls. If he gets a hold of it, you cease to exist, in any world. A fate worse than death."

Only one thought permeated her brain after that. _Where was Killian?_

 **A/N- And so the plot thickens.**


	4. Chapter 4

_Backwards. Backwards. We're going at this backwards._ Emma thought as they followed the path of the fury. They were back to trudging through the barren nothingness that was The Underworld, simply _hoping_ that the fury would lead them to Hades.

Emma had been going around and around in her head ever since they left that little village. _Hades has a collection of souls_ , she remembered. Somehow it didn't seem to be much of a leap to assume that Captain Hook would find his way onto that list. She worried for him. Yeah, maybe he was out there, but maybe, just maybe, they were already too late.

"We're doing this the wrong way," She finally spoke up. They were making their way through another group of souls, which Emma did not want to think of as a town, as if they were just living out normal lives, and not wasting away in Hell of all places.

The group paused to look over at Emma curiously. "What do you mean?" Robin finally asked her.

"I've been thinking about what Regina said. For the past few days, all we've been trying to do is get to Hades."

"Well," Regina started. "That _is_ the plan if we're ever going to get out of here, or have you forgotten? The king of Hell isn't going to let you just steal one of his precious souls away."

Snow was about to say something about hope, and how their plan to split Emma's heart would work, how it _had_ to, before her daughter unintentionally cut her off. "It's not stealing if it didn't belong to him in the first place," They were silent for a moment, struck by the passionate tone of her voice. She would leave this place with nothing less than Killian Jones by her side. "And that's the point," She exclaimed angrily. "We can't steal what we don't have."

She was right; they all knew she was. They'd been following the fury for a while now, and were nowhere closer to locating Hades. This plan wasn't working anyways. Their first priority had to be finding Killian.

"And how exactly do you plan to find him? At least with the fury, we had something to follow. He's only one person out of an infinity of others."

She didn't want to admit that Regina may be right, but she knew everyone was thinking it. Was this whole journey just one big lost cause?


	5. Chapter 5

Sometimes, Emma thought she was losing her mind. As they traveled, the group came across more and more souls, trying to make the best of this dreary existence. She kept imagining that she'd turn around, and see a familiar face. But, it was more than the paranoia that took hold of her mercilessly. It was, well, _everything_.

She was tired, and anxious, irritable, and scared.

The group tended to stay as far from wandering souls as they could when the darkness reached its peak, and they grew weary. They'd rest off somewhere in the dead forest, or at least, in Emma's case, try to. Her mother and her father would lie on the ground together and whisper until they drifted off. Regina and Robin often propped themselves against a tree in silence, waiting for unconsciousness.

But Emma, Emma just sat there, in the dark, afraid to close her eyes. Ever since arriving here, the same thoughts kept returning to her; thoughts that refused to let her rest. _I did this. I sent him here. I killed him. I'm a murderer._ And every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was herself, (in some kind of distorted third person view, insuring that she wouldn't miss a moment of it, not one detail), running him through with that sword.

She shook her head, her eyes, gently passing over her family. _All she needed now were Henry and Killian._ She was losing her mind, she realized as she sat, watching over the rest of the group. They were in the middle of a brown, dead forest, and she could distinctly hear the sounds of what else? The ocean.

When she finally worked up the nerve to go investigate, her mother sat up, causing her to pause.

"What are you doing?" She asked Emma as she attempted to investigate the noise.

"I'm going to go see where that noise is coming from. It sounds like the ocean," she told her, finding no legitimate reason to lie to her. She knew she was probably completely insane by that point, but the sea calmed her, if only because it reminded her of Killian.

"Okay then," Snow said to her, standing up slowly, nudging David's shoulder as she went. When he was standing, she wandered over to Regina and Robin, and woke them as well.

"Is there any particular reason you have for waking us?" Regina asked with a hint of malice in her tone. They had been walking for hours, which meant, even if it never really got any darker here, it felt an awful lot like being startled awake at midnight.

"Emma says she can hear water," she started, "It's probably the best place to start looking."

"Looking?" Robin asked groggily.

"For Killian," She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

It didn't take them long to discover that Emma was right. There was a little port town not far from them, lying on the banks of a sea blacker than night. It looked like it would swallow them up, like a black hole, but Emma was just glad that it wasn't filled with blood.

They wandered the town aimlessly for a while before Robin stopped them, pointing to a shack a few yards away. "Looks like a tavern. Fitting place for a pirate, I'd say."

Emma wanted to scowl at his insinuation, but she was overcome by just enough hope not to care.


	6. Chapter 6

When the group entered the tavern, there was a strange beat of silence, as if everyone in the building, no, in the whole Underworld, was holding their unneeded breath. After only a split second, just long enough for everyone to glance in their direction at least once, the din of the establishment continued.

"What was that about?" David asked, taking the lead.

A lone man at the end of the bar turned in their direction and beckoned them over. His deep blue eyes made Emma pause for just a moment, before she complied, suddenly trusting him wholeheartedly. _Yeah, she was crazy._ The rest of the group followed her cautiously, not willing to trust anyone in this God forsaken place.

"I take it you're new here?" the man asked in a lilting accent, taking a swig of his drink.

"And you're not?" David asked him.

"Well," he said turning to face them completely, "Not unless you count a few centuries as being 'new here', then no."

David, overcome by the same feeling of trust, decided that now was their chance to get some real answers.

"So, can you tell us about this place?"

"Now," he said, pausing for a moment to look them over, "You come to this land not knowing what it is, so… I'd venture to say you're not dead," Five heads cautiously nodded in the affirmative. "Might I ask _why_ you'd ever find yourself _wanting_ to be here?"

"That's our business," Emma spoke up, not allowing her father to come up with a response. She didn't trust the man _that_ much. Her fingers shook gently as she thought of why they were really there, and the too- big ring almost fell off of her thumb. She'd taken to playing with it as they journeyed, setting it on each finger for a brief time, (she scared herself when she realized just how much she liked the look of it on _that_ finger). Now, she played with it again, feeling comforted by the weight of it in her hand.

The man, who still did not have a name, caught on to the movement, his eyes widening as he took in the sight of the gold ring in her hand.

"Where in all the realms did you get that?" He asked her accusingly, reaching out for it swiftly.

"You try to take this from me," Emma started, reaching for Killian's cutlass, "And you'll regret it."

The man recognized the sword too, and Emma felt a strange sense of recognition wash through her. _It couldn't be._

"If you're going to steal," he told her angrily, "You shouldn't be surprised when someone fights back."

All at once, she knew exactly who this was. "Liam."

 **A/N- Now we're getting somewhere. Also, the bit about the ring came from an interesting tumblr post pertaining to the reason it's not on Emma's necklace at the end of the midseason finale, which I really hope becomes cannon.**

 **-S.**


	7. Chapter 7

At the mention of his name, the captain paused, taking in Emma's appearance again. Had he somehow known her? But, he thought, it had been hundreds of years, and anyone he had known would have been dead. The woman and her companions were obviously still living.

"What are you, a witch?" He asked her, both curious and angry.

"Hey," David started, but Emma was quick to shush him.

"Can't you see the resemblance?" Emma asked her father, "I'd be angry too, if I were him."

The group took a small moment to look at the man, and put the pieces together in their heads. They did look alike, he and Killian shared the same coloring, and their facial features were strikingly similar.

"Well this is a surprise," Regina sang. "Look what we found; brother number one."

"You mean," Snow started, trailing off.

"What exactly is going on here?" Liam asked. "And what's it to do with my brother?"

After a bit of coaxing from David and Snow, the six of them moved to the back of the _fine_ establishment to prevent the scene they were about to make. When they were away from the crowd, Liam looked at them all expectantly.

"I didn't steal from anyone," Emma began, immediately going on the defensive.

Liam raised a brow in question.

"Have you ever heard of a place called Neverland?"

"It's just a myth," he chortled. "Killian used to tell me stories of it when we were lads; he swore to me that he'd go there someday. A place where you never grow old," he scoffed. "This is the only place like that, and it's not a nice one."

"It's a real place, Liam. Killian found it, and he stayed there for a long time."

"You mean he's still alive?" Liam asked. "Is that why I've yet to see him?"

The group exchanged a few sad looks amongst each other, wondering how they were ever going to explain.

"After Killian left Neverland, he met all of us," Emma chose to leave out much of their epic love story, not in the mood to shed anymore tears. "He and I," she tried in vain to swallow the lump in her throat. "We were very close. But now he's," she paused again, breathing deeply, "He's dead, and I refuse to live with that."

For whatever reason, Liam could see the truth in her eyes, and decided to trust her, or at least, see where this was going. "So you've come here to somehow bring my brother back to life?" he asked in a disbelieving tone.

Emma nodded solemnly. "I'm not going to live without him."


	8. Chapter 8

"Hm," Liam hummed to himself as they all sat around a table. It was Emma's idea, surprisingly, to stay in town. She was getting tired of staying as far away from civilization as they were able. She wanted a _real_ life, ironically. Besides, she rationalized to the group, if they were going to find Killian, they should probably stay near the other spirits, where he was most likely to be.

"But have you a soul to trade?" he asked them finally.

"What are you talking about?" Emma asked him nervously, not at all liking where this was going.

"Well you've got the heart," he started, pointing to Emma, "and I'm assuming you still have the body?" he asked, quirking a brow. It made Emma flinch to think about it, but she nodded anyway, _yes they still had his body._

"Doctor Whale agreed to keep him in the morgue for as long as possible," Regina answered for her, pitying the way her face paled, and her whole body jerked at the question.

"It's the _souls_ Hades cares about. Have you got one of those?"

The entire group sat frozen. No they did not have one of those. They hadn't even thought about that. For a split second, filled with an anger her old, dark one self would have been proud of, Emma wished she still had the dagger. She knew of one person hardly anyone would care about losing, the one person whom she hated most of all.

"Are you saying we're going to have to go _around_ Hades?" Regina asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Unless you can somehow manage to get him to just _give_ you Killian's soul," Liam confirmed.

"He won't," Emma muttered to herself.

"Emma?" David hedged.

"I was thinking about it the other day," Emma began. "He wants souls, but like anything else, he must value some more than others. And Captain Hook of all people…" She trailed off, not trusting her voice to continue.

"So what do you want to do?" Snow asked her compassionately. She didn't care what it was. She could see the brokenness on her daughter's face, and she would agree to anything to make that go away. Plus, the pirate _had_ grown on her.

Emma paused, taking a deep breath. "It looks like I'm stealing a soul."


	9. Chapter 9

For a split second, it seemed Emma forgot about the magic of the place. It wasn't like the land of the living, where you were made to follow certain rules. In both the real world and The Enchanted Forest, there were certain laws, laws of science. She learned too late that those laws didn't hold true when you were dead, or as close to it as they were.

The moment the words left her lips, they were on the run. Furies invaded the establishment, forcing the group out the back way. They ran for what felt like hours through the darkness, doing their best not to injure themselves in the dead forest. When at last they could run no more, when their legs wobbled and their lungs burned, they finally dropped to the ground to rest.

"Great, now mister King of Hell probably knows exactly where we are," Regina sneered, catching her breath.

"We've ran into the furies before, remember?" David cut in, trying to be rational. "He probably already knew. He's probably been watching us this whole time."

"So he's just been playing with us?" Emma summarized. Now she really wished she had that dagger; no, now she wished her name was still written on it. She wished she has a means to take what she wanted. "Killian could be anywhere, and you're telling me Hades is just sitting there in _his castle or something_ with some popcorn and a shit eating grin?"

"Though you lost me a bit in the middle there," Liam began, "It's not out of the realm of possibility."

"We have to find him," Emma pleaded with the group. In a strange way, a way she was almost completely unaccustomed to, she could feel her heart break. She thought she felt it once, when Neal had abandoned her in prison with a child she wouldn't dare to keep. But that was, at least at its core, just stupid teenage drama. No, she only had one other time to compare this to; when Henry ate the apple fritter and she was sure she would lose him.

She refused to lose anyone anymore, especially not Killian, not her true love.

"But how are we going to beat Hades?" Robin wondered aloud.

"We have to hope," Snow chimed in.

" _We need magic_ ," Emma told them, shooting a glance toward Regina.


	10. Chapter 10

Regina raised her brows in question. "And where have you been for the last," she stopped, running over their stay in the Underworld in her head. "However long it's been?" She finished uncertainly. "Magic doesn't work right here."

Emma rolled her eyes at the queen. "Yeah, and who's going to tell that to the furies? I think they count as magic, right? Or did I miss them all prowling around Manhattan?"

"What's your point?" Regina sighed.

"I don't think this is the right way to go about all of this," Snow began. Both Regina and Emma turned to look at her with varying degrees of fatigue and annoyance written on their faces. "Arguing won't solve anything."

"We're not arguing," Emma snapped, feeling instantly sorry for it afterwards. "I'm sorry mom, I'm just really, really tired," she ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "I want to go home. I want to sleep in my own bed. I want to see Henry again," She toyed with the ring on her thumb again, moving it from finger to finger and back again. "I just can't imagine leaving Killian here, not after everything that's happened, everything he's done for me, for us."

Liam smiled to himself as she spoke, imagining the fine man his brother must have become.

"I won't deny that Hook's helped us a lot," David began. "But if we don't find him soon…" he trailed off, not wanting Emma to have to face the reality of the situation. He only wanted to see his daughter happy.

"What did he just-" Liam started, but Emma was quick to cut him off, not really in the mood to explain more macabre back stories at the moment.

"I'll explain later," she told him, turning back to her father. "I'm not leaving this place until I find him. It kills me, being this far from home for so long, but he always came back for me; he always found me. Now it's my turn."

As the group sat by silently, thinking over the meaning behind Emma's words, that she would stay here as long as it took, a fact that filled her parents with great pride and worry, Emma went back to her original thought.

"If you helped me," she said after a moment, addressing Regina, "do you think we could make a locating potion?"

"It's possible," she said slowly, "That is assuming your magic is powerful enough to work unhindered here, and that this type of spell works on the dead," she sighed. This would never work. "You'd need something that belongs to him, and not something that he gave you," she told her, eyeing Killian's ring. That didn't count.

Emma smiled gently; finally feeling the hope her mother wouldn't stop talking about. She pulled the cutlass from her belt, and set it in front of her. "Will this work?"


	11. Chapter 11

Emma would never have guessed that the ingredients for a locating potion would be so easy to procure. Aside from the magic, they were all things that could be found in nature. Of course, Emma didn't recognize most of the things Regina said as they went hunting for certain herbs and plants, but that wasn't important. What was important was that they find everything.

After far too long, by Emma's standards, they had a small pile between them consisting of everything Regina said they'd need. Emma looked at it wearily. _Surely there has to be more than this,_ she thought, gazing upon a couple of different colored rocks, some leaves and moss, and a pile of dirt.

"This doesn't seem right," she said as Regina came to stand beside her.

"Are you really going to question me, savior?" She asked, crouching down to inspect the objects. Emma didn't respond, choosing instead to concentrate on what Regina was doing.

"This will do," She said a moment later, releasing a deep breath as she stood.

Everyone in their small group crowded around as Emma pulled the cutlass free and held it out towards Regina.

"Oh no," Regina started, regarding the weapon strangely. "This is on you. I told you my powers have been off. Besides," Now she pushed the hilt away gingerly. "If anyone should do this, it should be you."

"How?" Emma asked, not missing a beat. She could do this. For Killian, she could do anything.

"Well first," She started. "Put that down; you won't be needing it yet," Emma complied, setting the blade on the ground gently. "Now put your hands out," Again, she obeyed, her eyes fluttering closed. "Think about the goal, about Killian," Emma almost broke concentration when she heard Regina use his name. After all, it was a very rare occurrence. "Think about what you're trying to do. Just let the magic flow."

A few moments later, she could hear her mother's distinctive giggle. She opened her eyes to find, not a miscellaneous pile of foliage on the ground, but an intricately blown glass vile filled with a shimmering liquid. Suddenly, her own relieved chuckle joined in with Snow's laughter, and it was like a weight had been lifted off of her. She could breathe, if only for a moment in this Hell.

With the utmost care, she bent down to retrieve the vile. While she held it in her shaking hands, Regina brought the cutlass over to her, and she smiled. She was _so close_. She pulled the stopper from the vile and held her breath for a brief moment. "I will find you," She said to herself as she sprinkled the liquid over the blade.

It sat still for a moment, and Emma mirrored it, afraid to breathe. This had to work. Slowly, it rose from the ground and began spinning like a broken compass, unsure of the true north. She stood on shaky legs just as the blade chose its direction.


	12. Chapter 12

And they were off again, traipsing through the forest as quickly as they could. Emma could feel the hope invade her senses as she ran; this was it. It had to be. The rest of the group was more cautious, bringing up the rear with their weapons drawn. They had no idea if this would work here. They had no idea who, or what they were about to run into.

It could have been Killian Jones, or it could have just as easily been something _else._

Emma ran with vigor, not allowing her human, _living_ weakness to slow her down. Yeah, maybe the muscles in her legs were beginning to burn, maybe her breathing was slowly growing shallower, but she could care less. She hadn't been with Killian unimpeded in far too long. She missed him, the real him.

As they moved, Emma began to hear the calming sounds of the water again, and this time, she was taking after Snow. The water meant Killian. After all, where else would he be?

It wasn't long before she could see a figure in the distance, and she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she had found him. As quick as she could, she reached out and plucked the cutlass from the air, slightly afraid of what it would do if it got any closer to him. She turned around, and motioned for the rest of the group to stay put. They nodded reluctantly.

She walked as quickly as she dared, still holding the cutlass up protectively. When she was almost next to him, when she could almost reach out and touch his shoulder, she heard her father's voice behind her. "Look out!"

In a flash, the both of them spun around to see what was going on. A lone fury (thank god there was only one) flew out of the dead trees and came straight at her. She readied her weapon just as the creature came upon them. Hades _was_ watching them. This was all just his game, and Emma was going to make sure that he lost.

This one was different than the ones they fought before. It didn't jump on Emma the first chance it got, no, this one had a mission. This one tried in vain to get over her shoulder, this one wanted _Killian._ As it jabbed down a second time, Emma tore a hole in its papery wing. The thing only tried once more, swiping its claws across Emma's midriff, before giving up, and retreating.

It was only when her head cleared that she realized what it really was. If Hades wanted to kill them, he would have sent more. No, he was watching them, and this was just a warning. _I always get what I want. You can't win._


	13. Chapter 13

It took a moment for Emma's breathing to even out and her heart rate to slow. Cautiously, she lowered her weapon, shooting a glance at her companions. _I'm fine._ She wanted to say, but the words were stuck in her throat. She could do this; she had to, and she preferred to do it without an audience. She motioned for them to stay put, and they did, if only just.

Cautiously, Emma turned to face Killian, the cutlass still slightly raised. Despite everything her mind was telling her, this could have been a trick, and she knew it. The wind gusted around them, and Emma couldn't help but think that Killian looked at home here, on a cliff overlooking the ocean. _Now,_ she thought, _if only the ocean wasn't some kind swirling black hole._

And in that moment everything just, crumbled. She wasn't the Emma she used to be. Her walls weren't built up a mile high. No, she was a scared little orphan again. She was alone, and she needed her pirate more than anything.

"Killian," she sighed, her eyes glassy.

He regarded her coolly, his eyes narrowing into slits. He wouldn't be tricked again. "What are you doing here? Isn't it a little early?" he barked out sarcastically.

She cocked a brow, unsure of how to respond.

"Sorry love, I'm just surprised. Usually you wait until I beg to see your face again." The admission made her gasp. He'd seen her here before?

"I'm sorry," she muttered, not knowing what else to say. She could see a storm brew in his eyes.

"No love, you're not. If you were truly apologetic, you wouldn't be here," he paused, looking up to the sky. "Marvelous plan you've come up with!" he screamed to no one. Emma's hands began to shake as she watched him. "So go on then, demon," he addressed her again. "Tell me. Regale me with all the mistakes I've made. Tell me how worthless I am!" he demanded, taking a step towards her. "Remind me of my worst nightmare again- how no one could ever love me, how you never did, because I'm just a good for nothing pirate!"

She was crying now, heaving little sobs as tears streamed down her face. This wasn't him. This was Hell, and Hell was turning him into something he wasn't.

"I love you," she said. She could think of nothing else to say. "And you're _not_ worthless." Her words caused him to pause and look at her strangely. He hadn't been expecting that.

With that, she did the only other thing she could think of. She stalked right up to him and kissed him. It was messy and blubbery on account of her crying, but she didn't care. It was Killian, and her lips hadn't touched his in far too long.

When they broke apart, she was breathing heavily, and she could feel her heart move a mile a minute.

Killian's whole face broke out into a smile. "Swan."


	14. Chapter 14

Their hands were glued together when they turned around, and Emma wouldn't wish it any other way. She'd lost him so many times, and this was where she drew the line. She refused to lose him again. As it was, she didn't even want to let him out of her sight.

They walked back at a leisurely pace, as close as they were able, almost as if they were each trying to make sure the other was real. At least, Emma was. In her head, she could still see every time he left her, in this reality or any other, after promising that he wouldn't. He promised her that he was a survivor, and the sheer number of times he disproved that was almost comical.

She squeezed his hand as they met with the rest of the group. _Never again_.

At once, Killian was passed around like a spectacle, earning hugs from everyone, even Regina, who threatened him with magic should he ever be so careless or stupid again (her exact words were, "I will create a vicious cycle of sending you down here and then bringing you back so I can do it again").

When her mother was finally done smothering him, Emma smiled and motioned to the back of the group. "There's one more person who's been waiting to see you."

For a moment, Killian was confused. Had Henry come along? But then of course, the group parted to show Liam, who was standing nervously behind Robin. Killian was at a loss for words. Was it really him after all of this time?

"Liam," he breathed, surprised and very much disbelieving.

"It seems you've caused quite the mess, little brother," he chuckled. Killian wasted no time at all tackling his brother and pulling him into a tight embrace. The scene was rather heartwarming, and Emma couldn't help but grin like the Cheshire Cat. No matter what happened to bring them to that moment, she was glad that they had this opportunity.

"I think you mean _younger brother,_ " Killian chided once they'd parted.

Liam smirked. "No, I meant what I said."

"I've missed you, brother," Killian whispered a moment later. Emma could see his eyes go glassy once again.

"Guys," Regina piped up. "Not that this isn't touching, but how about we continue this someplace that isn't Hell?" Well, she had a point.

"What?" Killian asked. He wasn't sure what they were all doing there, considering that five of them happened to still be alive, but honestly, with his brother by his side, and his Swan in his arms, he couldn't have cared less.

"Well isn't it obvious," Emma started, reaching for Killian's hand again. Only this time, she was met with his bare stump. She grabbed hold of it none the less and sighed. Maybe that was part of his own hell. She already knew that she was a frequent visitor. "We're here to spring you."

 **A/N- Yes, I will be posting tomorrow and Friday, so keep a look out. Happy Holidays!**

 **-S.**


	15. Chapter 15

"So are we sticking with the new plan then?" David asked as they walked. He had been surprisingly supportive on this whole endeavor, and even made an effort not to cringe at the closeness between his daughter and the pirate. It brought Emma back to the idea of pinching herself. Her life, (outside of murdering her true love) was perfect. The thought made her grimace, and she actually did end up pinching herself in the side just to think of something else.

"Of course!" Emma exclaimed, shaking her head. "Did you _see_ what just happened? It's too risky." She punctuated her statement by wrapping her arm around Killian's waist, and pulling him closer to her.

"What's the plan?" Killian wondered. No one responded, presumably because everyone realized how badly that plan could end up.

"Not important. What's important is that we get out of here," Emma told him. Everyone else nodded their heads a bit in muted agreement.

"You realize that we're going to need a better plan than that," Robin reminded them. His words garnered a few strange looks, so he went about explaining himself. "It took us what must have been a couple of weeks to get this far. How long do you really think we could out run the furies?"

Emma didn't respond, afraid of the answer.

As it turns out, they could get pretty far. They traveled back they way they'd come, at least to the best of their knowledge. Everything was the same as it had been before- quiet little settlements filled with spirits that couldn't care less who they were or what they were doing. It was proving to be far too easy.

When at last they reached the river, everyone was on edge. Something was wrong. Hades wasn't going to let them just steal one of his precious souls, especially not that of _Captain Hook_. Was this all just some big game? As they approached their freedom, Emma knew that it was.

All at once, they were ambushed by countless winged beasts, all with the same goal, to steal Killian and Liam away.

"Get on the boat!" Charming screamed. "We'll follow!" Emma and Snow reluctantly pulled the two spirits onto the boat, earning a strange look from Charon, who surprisingly did not protest. Being this close to the mortal realm must have meant something, as Regina's powers seemed to have been returning to her. With that realization, it was an easy fight.

As soon as the nearest furies were taken down, the three of them jumped on the boat, and were off.

After a few moments, Regina grinned, flexing her fingers. "It's good to be back," Then, she looked up to Emma and held out her hands. "Give me the ring and the sword," she demanded.

Emma's eyes widened and she gripped the ring tightly in her fist. "What?"

The queen rolled her eyes. "How many of the undead have you seen roaming around town, Miss Swan?"

Emma froze. What was she saying? That they couldn't come back with them?

"Oh relax," Regina sighed. "If you want your pirate or his brother to return with us, then their souls must be tethered to physical objects."

Slowly, shakily, Emma unclasped her necklace, and handed Liam's ring over to the queen, doing the same with the cutlass. She reached for the blade and then looked up to Killian, intent on tethering them each to their own possessions.

"Uh, your majesty," Killian began, nervously scratching his ear. God, Emma had missed that, and everything else about him. "You'd understand my reluctance over being connected to a weapon, aye?"

"O -of course," She stuttered, taken completely off guard. A moment later, the objects began to glow, and then faded to normal slowly. "One more thing," Regina started, handing them both back to Emma. "Until we can get them back into their bodies," This earned a curious look from Liam, who didn't really have one anymore. "Only the person who possesses the objects, i.e. you, will be able to see them."


	16. Chapter 16

In a word, Mister Gold was _annoyed._ It was not an emotion he was used to feeling, and when he did, the solution was usually as simple as eradicating whatever it was that angered him. But this was different. This time, things were finally supposed to go his way, at least, in theory.

But then of course, the newly reformed _savior_ had to step in the way. All she ever did was complicate things. You see, his plan was perfect. She hated the darkness, whereas he reveled in it. She wanted to destroy the darkness, and all his power. So, he did what anyone else would have done in his situation- he switched the blades. That way, he could keep the power, keep his wife in the dark, and get rid of the infuriating pirate once and for all.

He hadn't thought of the possibility (the very _real_ possibility) that she would care for him enough to go down to the Underworld to retrieve him.

And now, not only did everyone know what he had done, his Belle was only a whisper away from the truth, now, she was going to bring his enemy back from the dead. A thought, the same thought that had invaded his mind when the pirate first set foot in Storybrooke, ran though his head again. _Why couldn't he just_ die _already?_

That one gave him an idea, and without thinking too much, he found himself in the back room of his shop, among all of his relics. The pirate's hand, sitting up high on a cabinet, like a _trophy,_ caught his eye, and he laughed to himself. Maybe Miss Swan would come back to town, and maybe she would tell Belle everything, just like she promised she would, but he would get something out of it.

Rumplestiltskin always wins.

With a flick of his wrist, the pirate's corpse lay on the floor in front of him. _This time_ , he thought, his hand ablaze with a magical fire, _the cockroach wouldn't find some miraculous way to survive._

 **A/N- Dun dun dun.** **Well, how was that? A little dark for today, but you know, that's me. Anyways, I hope you all have a very merry Christmas.**

 **-S.**


	17. Chapter 17

_A few hours earlier…_

 _God, it felt good to be home._ That was Emma's first and well, _only_ thought as she and her family finally arrived back in Storybrooke. Charon shook his head at them as the boat drifted away into the fog. _They were such fools._ But, no one was paying attention to him as they all smiled and laughed with one another, embracing each other once again.

Emma was disappointed to learn that she passed right through Killian when she tried to pull him into a hug. _They weren't out of the woods yet,_ she thought sadly as her parents and Robin and Regina turned towards her.

"I'm almost certain that time works the same here as it did for us," Regina began, looking a bit saddened by this bit of information.

"Which means," Emma continued. "It's been almost two weeks."

It was as if everyone's thoughts went to the same exact spot after that, and they all headed wordlessly into town. Emma held her breath as they went, just waiting for something to go wrong. After all, the Dark One had been left alone, completely unchecked for an unsettling amount of time. Her head cleared slightly as she saw Killian shuffle a bit closer to her, and the convent came into view around the corner.

First, she was going to hug her son as if her life depended on it, and then she was going to help Regina put Killian's soul back where it belonged.

Regina wasted no time pushing the huge wooden doors open and rushing inside. The place, unlike the rest of the town, was absolutely buzzing with activity.

"Blue!" Snow called out, and suddenly all of the fairies were looking in their direction. The whole room erupted into whispers, and it wasn't long before Mother Superior was standing in front of them with a strained smile on her face.

"I'm glad you're all back," the fairy said, looking positively relieved. "The boys are-" she began, but Henry's happy voice cut her off.

"Moms!" he exclaimed, running towards them with baby Neal in his arms, Roland right on his heels. As quickly as he could, he deposited his little uncle into the arms of his grandmother, and then Emma found herself smashed in a group hug with her son and Regina.

"I missed you, Kid," Emma told him, just as Regina whispered, "Oh Henry," and then no one was talking, just reveling in each other's company.

Eventually, the three of them separated, and Regina reluctantly left them to go spend some time with Robin and Roland, who was practically her stepson at that point.

"So, what happened?" Henry asked, looking around expectantly. Emma smiled to herself. Henry had missed Killian almost as much as she had.

From behind her, Liam looked on in confusion. Who was this boy? A small, nagging thought had him wondering if this was his nephew. After all, Killian's lass happened to be his mother. He shook his head just as Emma turned to face them. Her smile was watery and kind of sad, but also, filled with a hope that only Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter could manage. Gently, she reached up and traced her fingers along Killian's face, before letting her hand fall to her side.

"We _will_ have our happy ending, Swan," he promised her.

Wiping her hand over her face fiercely, she unclasped her necklace, and held the ring out to her son.

"Henry, it's a bit complicated," she started, causing his smile to fall slightly. "You won't be able to see him until we can get to his body," Henry frowned. "Unless you have this," she finished. "Regina enchanted it."

With the smile back on his face, Henry pulled the chain from his mother's grasp, jumping when he caught sight of the pirate.

"Killian," He laughed. The look on his face made Emma feel warm inside, even if she could no longer see her love.


	18. Chapter 18

After reuniting with Henry, Emma, (and everyone else, Emma was surprised at how many people actually wanted Killian back) rushed down the street, heading straight for the hospital. Her heart beat erratically as they went, and she was nervous to be with Killian again. The thought made her feel slightly guilty, as he _was_ standing right beside her, but she wanted the chance to touch him, to hold him and kiss him.

She was running out of patience.

The hospital was not nearly as alive as the convent had been. The fairies had been trying to keep the town safe from the Dark One, and anyone else who might stumble into town in the Savior's, and Queen's, wake. But here, in the hospital, it was almost completely still, as if there wasn't a soul in the establishment. Emma attributed it to the lack of people they had seen on the streets.

It wasn't long before they had tracked down Doctor Whale, who was sitting alone in his office with his feet propped up on his desk. The sight made Emma pause; had Mister Gold _really_ kept to himself in the weeks they'd been gone? Had there really been no strange magical creature to crash the town? It was ironic that as soon as Emma left, and couldn't fulfill her sheriff and savior duties, there would be no need for a sheriff or a savior.

With a quick explanation from Regina, they were led down to the morgue. Emma shivered as she walked, and Killian noticed. She didn't want to see his lifeless body again. She didn't know if she could bear the sight of it a second time. She already had enough nightmares.

Before too long, they were standing around a big metal box, like a cabinet, and Emma knew what lay inside of it. She held her breath and shut her eyes as Whale reached for the drawer that simply read _K. Jones._ She wasn't ready.

It wasn't until she heard multiple gasps that she opened her eyes and looked, at an empty box.

"He's gone," she sobbed to herself, simply unwilling to believe.

"That's impossible. No one's been in here since you left," Whale argued.

"The place reeks of magic," Regina supplied in explanation.

This time, when Emma ran, she did so without her family by her side. No this was between her and a _crocodile_. She didn't stop until she reached the antiques shop. Not willing to wait for the others to catch up, she waved her hand in front of the door to unlock it, (who closes up at ten thirty?) and barged inside.

She found the sorcerer in the back room of his shop, standing over Killian's body. She didn't have it in her anymore, to flinch at the sight of it. Now she was just glad it was here.

"I swear, if you so much as twitch," she started angrily, hands raised, eyes trained on the fire in his hand.

"Well, look who's back in town," he laughed, and Emma imagined that this version of him, the sarcastic, annoying little imp, was the real him. _This_ was Rumplestiltskin.

"Get away from him," she demanded, keeping her magic at the ready.

"You're all about the happy endings, Miss Swan, and this is mine. Please don't ruin anything else for me," he smiled to her, causing chills to race up her spine. "Though, I suppose the fire might make things messy," In a flash, he held an old looking dagger in his hand, and dragged it over Killian's neck.

The magic shot from Emma's hands, just a moment too late. Mister Gold flew backwards, but the dagger didn't. No, it was already impaling Killian's neck.


	19. Chapter 19

Emma dashed forward, not caring where Mister Gold was, or what he was doing. She would deal with him later. And anyways, he was completely still as she approached, and she was hoping that she'd somehow knocked him out. That was enough for now, she supposed.

Killian broke her out of her thoughts as he regarded the limp man with anger and disgust. "Bloody bastard," he muttered, absolutely wishing that his hand wouldn't pass through solid objects, like a knife, he thought, or a sword, or his hook. He glanced down at his stump wearily. Yes, he wanted his hand back, almost more than anything else, but he had to admit, he did miss the hook. It was a part of him.

When he finally brought his attention back to Emma, she was on the ground beside his lifeless body, her fingers trailing up and down his face.

"I'm still here, Swan," he told her, moving to stand beside her. _God, how he wanted to be able to touch her._

"I wouldn't look at you," she muttered quietly, lacing her fingers with his stiff ones. She was glad that Whale had listened to Regina. His clothes were the same, (or almost; someone must have brought him a new shirt, one without a bloody hole in it) he was still wearing his necklace, and all of his rings. It was just like in the movies- he looked like he was sleeping. "I was too terrified by what I would see. It couldn't be real like it was for everyone else." Her mind flickered off to Graham and Neal, before returning to Killian, or at least, the Killian in front of her. Her eyes found Killian's spirit beside her, and she smiled sadly. "I love you, and I'm sorry, because that seems to be a curse all on its own."

Suddenly, a noise came from the front room, and then the whole building was filled with her family and friends. Her mother, seeing the carnage of the room, bent down to hug Emma. Everyone else stood around the room unsure of how to proceed. Someone gasped, she thought it was Liam, and Emma stood up confidently. _She would get her happy ending._

She gazed toward Regina with an unspoken question in her eyes, and the queen stepped forward. "I've never tried healing a…" she didn't want to finish, and cause Emma, her unlikely friend, more pain. "But I'll try."

Removing the knife was easy. Sealing the wound was something else entirely, and Emma held her breath as Regina worked her magic. Emma knew enough to be sure that if they tried to bring him back like this, he would only bleed out, and be sent right back to Hell.

After a few agonizing moments, Regina stood, and turned to face her. "He should be fine now." And then they were gone. One moment they all stood around in Gold's shop, and the next, they were in Emma's room in the flat. After some coaxing from Emma, everyone but Regina found their way into the other room, giving them some privacy.

"Let's do it," Emma said without missing a beat.

"It might not work, Emma." At her words, Emma's face fell and she motioned for the queen to continue, her patience seriously running thin.

"My mother couldn't take your heart; I can't take your heart. It has to be you. You're the only one who might be strong enough to do it."

Thanks to Emma's vague answers before they left the Underworld, Killian stood back, confused and slightly terrified. _What was this about taking Emma's heart?_

" _Might be?_ " Emma almost seethed.

"Just try it," Regina prompted. "I promise you, if it doesn't work, I'll help you figure this out." At Emma's odd look, she continued. "We're more alike than you want to believe, Emma."

Taking a deep breath, Emma placed her hand over her chest.

"What are you-" Killian began, but Emma shushed him, her eyes closing. She concentrated, and then slowly, too slowly, she could feel her fingers sink into her flesh. She jerked at the pulsing organ in her hand, and it came out easily. Her whole face was split by a mile long grin.

"Emma!" Killian exclaimed, not at all liking where this was going, but Emma still didn't respond.

The queen took her heart without being asked, and Killian was even more horror struck. With a concise flick of her wrist, the heart cracked and swiftly twisted apart, like a bottle cap. Emma flinched, but the feeling, the slight pain only reminded her how close she was.

Emma took the pieces of her heart back from Regina, pushed half of it back into her chest unceremoniously, ignoring the pain, and dropped to her knees next to the bed. "Please," she whispered to no one, before pushing the heart into Killian's chest. She could hear him beside her, questioning her, before he abruptly cut off, and Emma chanced a look beside her. Only Liam stood there, looking confused.

"So this was your secret plan," Killian said after a moment, sitting up from the bed slowly.

 **A/N- Yes, I'm evil, but seriously, how was that? It's a bit longer, as some of you have asked me for, and I'm not sure if that will be a theme yet, but maybe. I figured that as the story went on, the chapters would slowly start getting longer, but we'll see how it goes.**

 **-S.**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N- I'm still not sure how long this will be, but we're at the calm before the storm, I suppose, (there will be a bit of fluff, because, let's be honest, there's been far too much angst so far) which makes the story probably about half way done.**

She pinched the outside of her thigh under the table. _Everything has a way of crashing down,_ she thought to herself, _every little thing_. This wasn't going to last. She couldn't sit there and think that everything would just be perfect now. Yeah, maybe she was a princess, but this life she lived would never be a fairytale.

"Are you alright there, Love?" Killian asked her gently. His face looked slightly ominous in the muted light of the restaurant.

She shook her head and smiled to him. "Everything's fine." And for the moment, it was. They'd been back in Storybrooke for three days now, and things were, well, Emma wouldn't call them perfect, but they were definitely better. She and Killian had officially moved into their house, with Henry in the guest room. There hadn't been any ridiculous villains to track down lately. Belle had the _real_ dagger now. Life was good.

She pushed her plate away from her, and took a small sip of her hot chocolate. "I'm just stuffed."

"I get the feeling it's more than that," Killian prodded.

"I'm just," she paused as the waitress passed by, leaving their check without so much as a glance. Emma sighed and rifled through her purse for some money. "I'm waiting to wake up."

Killian lifted a brow. "And what exactly, does that mean?"

There was no beating around the bush this time. "It was too easy," she exclaimed as quietly as she was able. "All of it. The Underworld, the furies, everything else. It was too easy."

The waitress returned with their receipt, and the two left hand in hand, walking down the street. Storybrooke was small enough to render cars almost completely useless, so they hadn't bothered with her bug. It needed an oil change anyways.

"There's something I've learned from being on the sea for so long," Killian began, holding Emma as closely as he could. "You've got to go where the wind takes you, Swan. Don't try and fight it."

When they arrived at their house, Emma smiled. She'd never had a real place to call her own before. Mary- Margaret's loft didn't count. No, this place belonged solely to her and Killian, well, and Henry when he was there.

"Now," Killian exaggerated, looking down at his empty wrist. "It's been at least twelve hours since we were last _acquainted_ , and that, Swan, is far too long." He wiggled his eyebrows at her with a dashing grin on his face, and motioned towards the door.

Emma smirked. "Whatever you say, Captain Horndog."


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N- Oh my god guys, I'm sorry about this. I was a bit busy, and then one day turned into two, and two turned to three. The plot fairy has gifted me with the inspiration to finish my novel, so I've been working on that. The good news is this has given me the chance to think about just how this is going to end, so it shouldn't be too hard to get back into it. To apologize, there might just be two updates today…**

"Well this is new," Henry commented as when he caught sight of Killian on the sidewalk outside of the middle school. "Usually, one of my moms walks me home."

"It was Emma's turn," Killian commented as they began to walk down the street. "She's been through so much lately. It took me quite a while to convince her to let Dave watch the station. I told her to take a rest for a while, not that she'd listen to me. Stubborn lass. She's at home."

"So I'm staying with my other mom then?" He asked the pirate.

"I suppose we'll just have to see, lad." As he spoke, Henry noticed him turn towards Main Street. Were they not going home? This wasn't the direction of either of his mothers' homes. Just as he was about to ask, Killian led them into Granny's diner, one of the only eateries in the entire town.

He told Henry to order whatever he wanted, paying Ruby with a gold coin when she brought their food. Well, at least, Henry told him it was food. He had yet to see the strange concoction that sat before him. When Henry caught sight of Killian's hesitance to the dessert, he chuckled. "It's ice cream. You know, like from the Ice Queen's shop." Killian couldn't see any resemblance between the contents of the cup before him, and the colorful frozen blocks in the Ice Queen's shop, but he decided to take Henry's word for it.

It was much better than he'd imagined.

"Now lad, I brought you here, because I was hoping to speak to you about something rather pressing."

At Henry's nod, he continued. "Your mother's response to all of this is beginning to frighten me. She's losing sleep, and every time I leave her sight, she acts as if she's never going to lay eyes on me again. I don't know what to do."

Henry pushed his dish away and watched Killian for a moment. He really looked torn. "You know her; she's always waiting for people to leave, like my dad did."

"But I'm not going anywhere," Killian explained, just a tad too loud.

Henry scoffed. "Says the guy who's died like four times. Plus what happened with Mister Gold- twice."

Killian sighed. The lad was right. "So what do I do?"

"You do realize you're asking for relationship advice from a thirteen year old, right?"

"You know her," Killian quoted. "How can I prove that I'll never leave her?"

Henry smiled. "Looks like operation Happy Ending isn't done yet."

"What?" Killian asked him, confused.

"Everything gets a name," Henry explained. "Like operation Cobra and operation Mongoose."

"So, what was operation Happy Ending?"

"Duh," Henry drawled. "Saving you, of course. Even I can see that you're my mom's happy ending, and I'm a kid."


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N- New update, as promised.**

"You want me to _what?_ " Regina asked in an unbelieving tone. He couldn't be serious.

"I was talking with your lad earlier and he said that Emma still doesn't believe I'm here to stay. I have to do it, if only to ease her worries."

"You know," she chuckled humorlessly, rolling eyes. "There are other ways to prove to someone you love that you aren't going anywhere, like, oh I don't know, an engagement ring?"

"Are you serious?" Killian suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe right. What the bloody hell? He couldn't _marry_ Emma. Could he?

"Look," she sighed, a sort of understanding washing over her face. "All I'm saying is that it's a little extreme to lock your heart away in a magical box just because Emma has nightmares."

"It's more than that," Killian said, taking a step closer to her desk. He had snuck away from Emma, who was still lounging around at home, under the guise of needing some air. Ever since they had returned from the Underworld nearly a week before, Killian had made a habit of going on walks by himself, and doing all that he could to remind himself that he really was home, and that this was all real. It was the reason he kept Liam's ring in a box in his bedroom. He had to remember that he was alive, and that Liam wasn't.

Thinking of the ring made him remember that Emma had been reluctant to return it to him. He shook his head. The queen's theories could wait.

"She seems to believe that our escape from the Underworld was far too easy. She hasn't told me very much, but one could easily surmise the path her thoughts take."

Regina's face grew somber as she thought. "Emma had planned to split her heart from the beginning, and we thought that it would be enough," she sighed. "After we told Liam our plan, he said it wouldn't work, because Hades wants souls, and we didn't exactly have another one of those lying around. As you know, we completely bypassed him, and ran.

"We stole from him, and something tells me, - well, it was something Emma said, really- like all collections, you come to value some more than others. This is _Hell_ we're talking about. The only way he could do better than my mother and Captain Hook, is if he kept _me_ down there.

"Prophetic dreams are not uncommon," she confirmed. "It's completely possible that her dreams foretell the future."

"She worries for my safety over these dreams. You're saying they may come to pass, and you still won't take my heart?"

A moment later, she sighed, and stood up. "Alright fine, but only because I might actually come to miss your annoying personality if you go off and get yourself killed again."

Without waiting for him to reply, she shoved her hand into his chest, and ripped out his half of Emma's heart.

 **A/N- I am kind of evil, aren't I?**


	23. Chapter 23

"I'm not going anywhere, Swan," Killian reminded Emma from the bow of his ship. "What can I do to prove it to you?"

She didn't respond, choosing instead to push her back closer to his chest. He had already trapped her in between his body, and the wheel of his ship, but apparently, that wasn't enough. In an attempt to push the queen's opinions out of his head, he had decided to take his little makeshift family out on the water. As it was, they were trying to get far enough away from Storybrooke to get Emma to stop worrying.

The sun would be setting soon, and then he, Emma, and Henry were going to have dinner under the stars. Now, if only he could just get his swan to really smile again.

"You could tie me up again," he suggested, earning a slight chuckle from Emma.

"I could," she mused, her eyes drifting over to watch the setting sun.

"Look at it, Swan," he breathed in her ear. "No more curses, no more crocodile, no more anything. We could sail away; after all, I've only ever been to two bloody towns in this entire realm. What say you we go and explore a bit more of it?"

"But that's just it, Killian," she exclaimed, turning in his arms. She could see Henry at the other end of the ship, completely oblivious to their conversation, watching as Storybrooke faded away. "We could go off and pretend that we're normal, that we belong here, but nothing's going to change the fact that you're Captain Hook, and I'm a princess with magical powers." She looked into his eyes again, a pang of guilt hitting her as she saw the look of sadness in his gaze. "As ironic as it sounds, this life isn't a fairytale, and sooner or later, there will be a new monster, or witch, or long lost relative to deal with."

Killian backed away from her slowly, unsure of just how to respond to all of that.

"I love you Killian, and absolutely every part of my life is perfect right now, but every time something good comes into my life, it leaves. Even you; even after you promised you wouldn't," she took a deep breath, letting it go as a sigh. "I'm still waiting for Henry to realize he hates me for giving him up."

And that was all it took for him to pull Emma into the tightest hug he possibly could, trying to convey without words just how much she meant to him.

"Please don't ever leave me again," she breathed into his neck. "I couldn't take it."

"As you wish," Killian whispered to her. Emma wondered if he somehow knew that he was referencing her favorite movie, if he knew just what she heard when he said those words. He did. Mary- Margaret had shown him the movie shortly after they had returned from Neverland, desperate for something to do since Emma and David were working.

After they'd eaten, Emma found herself at the stern, watching the dark water, and gentle lights of the Storybrooke cityscape in the distance.

Killian had decided that this was the perfect time to show Henry a thing or two about sailing, since he had been bringing it up ever since they'd returned from Neverland.

"Henry," he started, as soon as the ship was facing town again, "I want to talk to you about that operation Happy Ending you told me about." At Henry's smile and nod, he continued. "I've done all that I can think of to get Emma to believe that I'm here to stay, and still, she's waiting for something to blow up."

"That's just mom," he shrugged it off.

"That very well may be lad," he paused to swallow the lump in his throat, "but I want to get started on our happy ending right now. I'd like your help with it, if you can agree."

And that was how operation Dove, (for the symbolism) was born.

 **A/N- Woo, I am back! Again, sorry for my little break, but daily updates have returned.**


	24. Chapter 24

Thanks to the lack of any new curses, getting out of Storybrooke appeared to be rather easy. Ever since Killian's talk with Henry on board the Jolly, he had been planning. He wanted Emma to forget what had happened to him, what continued to happen to him. Hopefully, now that the queen held his heart, he would stop dying so frequently.

And so, just a few days later, Killian sat down with the whole Charming family, minus Emma, and relayed his plan.

"Oh my gosh, yes! Finally!" Snow giggled, while Charming simply sat back with a small smirk on his face. He _knew_ it.

Regina even found herself smiling. "Oh, look, you do know how to listen to good advice."

Of course, the smile was wiped right off of her face when Killian requested the permission to take Henry out with him into the rest of the land without magic to hunt down the perfect ring. It was a whole lot of back and forth after that suggestion. Eventually, after much arguing, Regina agreed, as long as he kept his new phone with him at all times, and that they returned before it got dark.

The next day, he and Henry set out on the Jolly, headed for Portland, which Henry informed him was a large city, and was bound to have what they were searching for. Regina had supplied them with a cloaking powder, ensuring that they wouldn't have to deal with the harbormaster, and then they were on land once again. Thankfully, Emma hadn't really questioned Killian's fake plan to take Henry out on the water and teach him more about sailing. That could wait for another day.

As they walked down the crowded streets of Portland, Henry kept his eyes on Killian's phone, which he had been informed was rather _smart,_ and contained much useful information within its glass window. Before too long, they found their way into a jewelry store. Once upon a time, Killian's mind would have gone straight to the sparkling gems and precious metals, but he wasn't a pirate anymore, not really.

"What can I do for you gentleman today?" An elderly woman asked from behind the counter. Killian almost scoffed at her question. He may not have been much of a pirate, but that didn't exactly make him a prince either.

"Oh, uh," he stuttered, repositioning his prosthetic. It was one thing to talk about it; it was another to actually be here, with a magically conjured wad of currency in his coat pocket.

"We are looking for an engagement ring," Henry supplied. _Good,_ Killian thought, _the lad can handle it._ After all, he knew almost nothing about this world's strange traditions anyway. "For my mom." He finished, Killian nodding behind him.

The woman smiled, before gesturing over to a counter against one wall. Killian followed her curiously, eyes widening at the number of rings that sat in the glass casing. He and Henry combed through the rings meticulously, trying to find the perfect one for Emma.

Henry was about to call Killian over, having found a ring that he thought would look nice with Emma's favorite red leather jacket, when Killian spotted it, the perfect ring. It was made of either white gold or silver, woven together like the stems of roses, complete with a few metal thorns. The ring sort of reminded him of their beginnings on the beanstalk. In the center were two stones, emerald and sapphire, coincidentally like their eyes, cradled by two silvery leaves.

It was as if the ring was made for him to find.

"Lad, look at this one," he called to Henry.

One look and Henry was sold. It was perfect.

Less than an hour later, they were back on the Jolly, headed home to Storybrooke, the ring nestled safely in Killian's coat pocket. Their little journey was much easier than Killian imagined. Portland was definitely batter than New York.

In the same moment, a storm brewed over Storybrooke, blocking out the sun. A few trees and plants keeled over and blacked in the forest just outside of town, making way for the newest, and quite possibly worst thing Storybrooke would ever see.

The king of Hell had arrived.

 **A/N- Sorry if this is a little late in the day.**


	25. Chapter 25

Emma and Regina sat in the back corner of the mostly empty library, pouring over a huge stack of spell books. When Regina had first said the words, Emma scoffed and rolled her eyes. _Spell books? What the hell was this, Harry Potter?_ No, this was just her life.

Anyways, this little study day was courtesy of Regina, who surprisingly, had become close to Emma. In reality, it was a way to get her to think of something other than her nightmares, and keep her occupied while the boys were on their trip. The nightmares made Emma feel guilty, as she knew she wasn't the only one to suffer from the curse of the dark ones and the Underworld. And that was where the idea for the spell book study day had come from.

Emma was going to do whatever it took to make up for all that she had done. Maybe she couldn't stop her own nightmares, but she could at least try to stop his. Killian had never actually said anything about his sleepless nights, but she could see them all etched onto his face when he woke up each morning.

She hoped that bringing his brother back would help him to forget.

"If we just had his body," Regina muttered, closing yet another large tome.

"For some reason," Emma began, running a hand through her hair, "Killian told me he died in Neverland, but for some reason, he doesn't remember being there."

"Of course he doesn't," Regina supplied. "No one does."

At Emma's questioning look, Regina continued.

"Describe the island," she commanded.

Emma sighed. "It was a jungle; I don't know," she paused for a moment. "The beach was nice. I didn't recognize most of the plants."

"Anything else?" Regina asked. Emma shook her head, and motioned for her to explain whatever it was that she was getting at. "It's a place where you never grow older, and thus, in a sense, completely run by children- or at least, youth- obsessed man- children," she explained. "You're an adult; you don't remember because the magic of the island doesn't want you to."

Emma supposed it wasn't the weirdest thing she'd ever heard. "But either way," she contradicted, "Even if I wanted to go back to that God- forsaken place, it's been centuries. There wouldn't be a body left."

"That's where the magic comes in," Regina said slowly, as if speaking to a child. "The only thing we'd need, is a heart."

It was silent for a moment, and Emma was about to suggest they retrieve his body right then, but suddenly, Belle whirled around a bookshelf, and came to a stop right in front of their table. "You guys might want to come see this," she suggested ominously.

The pair made it to the window just in time to witness a massive supernatural looking storm cloud descend upon the town.


	26. Chapter 26

Emma and Regina ran from the building unceremoniously, with instructions for Belle to spread the word that the two of them were going to go investigate. It may not have been the best plan, or any plan really, but with how quickly the black cloud was approaching them, it didn't look like they would have the time to come up with a better one. Part of Emma's brain was angry that this newfound peace hadn't lasted longer, and the other part rationalized that in Storybrooke, it never did. _Time to go fight another monster._

But, that wasn't what they found, not in the least. In fact, they hardly even found the remnants of any creature at all. The storm was rapidly approaching them, but that seemed to be all there was, just a storm. The wind blew, and the sky was dark, but that was it. Actually, the more worrying side of things in Emma's mind was, if there was a storm, what was happening to her son, and her pirate.

"I think we should get out of here," Regina said, as she turned to face Emma. She replied in the affirmative, but Regina wasn't listening anymore.

"Regina," Emma began, taking a step closer to her. "Regina," this time, she spoke slower, drew out the syllables. What the hell was going on with her? It was like she was in a trance or something. Thinking that not completely out of the realm of possibility, Emma raised her hands cautiously, and spun around. There was nothing behind her, and for a moment, she was confused, that is, until she saw it.

A few yards away they could both clearly see what appeared to be scorch marks against a large tree trunk. As she took a step towards it, she could feel a chill roll down her spine, and an eerie feeling surround her. What the hell had done this? It felt like- It felt like-

"It reminds me of the Underworld," Regina supplied, unintentionally cutting off Emma's thoughts.

"My dreams," Emma muttered to herself.

"What?" Regina asked. "What about your dreams?" When Emma finally turned to look at her, she raised a brow, prompting her to continue. "Killian said he thought your nightmares were prophetic."

For the moment, Emma decided to ignore the fact that Killian had gone to the queen instead of talking to her, as the current situation seemed to be much more pressing. "We got out of there far too easily. After all we went through, that little fury party before we left, that was easy. It was like he wasn't even trying," she breathed. "I keep seeing something, some monster come to town, and take him- them away. I can't lose him, not again."

"We have to get them out of the water," Regina said, stalking back in the direction of town, "And hold a town meeting or something."

Unbeknownst to them, Hades had a found a secret place to hide away and cultivate his plan. "Now ladies," he started, smiling at the two women in front of him, "The debt must be payed. Two souls were taken, and two souls shall be returned, but I could do without the navy man," he smirked. "No, I want the pirate, and the savior." He grinned wickedly. This plan would be perfect.

Cora and Milah looked to each other and smiled. It was good to be in their bodies again.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N- I would just like to apologize for the lack of updates. It isn't so much that I'm out of ideas, it's just that I started this as a way to tide myself, and others, over until the midseason premier, and the way things have been going, it looks like it will end too soon. I guess we'll see how it goes.**

When Henry and Killian reached Storybrooke a few hours later, they were met with the entire Charming family, plus Robin, Regina and their daughter Elaine, who finally had a name. Emma was the first one to pull Henry into her arms, holding on so tightly, for so long, he wasn't sure if she'd ever let him go. When eventually, she did, he found himself surrounded by Regina and his grandparents.

Emma wasted no time at all throwing herself into Killian's arms, and wrapping herself around him like a vice, not that he minded.

"You seem, relieved, love," Killian whispered into her hair as she held onto him. "We were only gone for a short while."

"It's complicated," Emma said by way of explanation, shooting a glance to Regina.

"We should probably get people to the town hall," she responded, "Get that meeting started. We need a plan."

Henry and Killian quickly learned that their questions weren't getting them anywhere, as it seemed like everyone in the group was ignoring them. Just one look at Emma told Killian that something was really wrong, and her refusal to talk about it only worried him further. What the bloody hell had happened while they were away?

The whole place was roaring with activity when they arrived, but thankfully, it didn't take too long to calm everyone down.

"I'm sure you all noticed the storm," Regina started. People began murmuring and nodding their heads. "Emma and I went to investigate, and it appears to be," she paused, searching for the right words. "Not of this world."

That caused even more of a panic. Emma sighed. _Great._ _Just when things were starting to work out._

Killian, who still had his handless arm around her waist, pulled her closer. "Is this why you were so worried?" he whispered in her ear. She nodded to him nervously.

Emma took a deep breath. It was now or never. She moved to stand beside Regina, and held a hand up, motioning for the townspeople to calm down. "Regina and I think that whatever this is has somehow come from the Underworld."

There was a brief pause before people began shouting. "So what you're saying is," Leroy began from his spot near the front, "that this is all his fault!" he exclaimed, raising a finger towards Killian. There was a bit more yelling before Killian disentangled himself from Emma, and ran.


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N- And so the shit storm begins…**

He didn't stop running until he reached the Jolly. The muted moonlight cast the ship in a slight silvery glow, throwing Killian back into his pirating days. He could just imagine himself as free as the wind in the sails, going wherever the wind took him. In some ways, he missed it. He missed the freedom that always seemed to be unattainable on land.

 _This is my fault_ , he thought as he made his way up to the wheel. It was the strongest sense of guilt he'd ever experienced, and it washed over him relentlessly, trying to drown him. _I wasn't strong enough, I made her kill me._ Slowly, he rested his hand on a spoke, and imagined sailing away. Not for the first time, he wondered if he was worth it. _I defied Hates. He's come for me, and he'll leave nothing left in his wake._

Killian didn't like to think of just what had happened to him while he was in Hell, but the torture he had endured was a far too painful to make the rest of the town endure the same. When he'd first arrived, he'd heard Hades' voice everywhere, trying to lure him to the demon, trying to remind him of how worthless he was. No one he came across wanted anything to do with him. He was alone. Then, Hades would send the monsters in the form of his family. Emma yelling at him. Henry crying about how he'd ruined his mother's life. Liam reminding him that he was a failure.

He never caught a break. He began to believe the voices. He wasn't worth the dirt on the bottoms of their shoes. And so, out of the small shred of honor he wasn't sure if he still possessed, he turned to raise anchor. He wouldn't bother anyone here ever again.

"We both know you could never manage that, Killian. You won't just disappear. You'll always be a problem for someone."

Killian spun around on his heals, not quite believing his own ears. But she was really there; all tan skin and dark hair, all warmth and beauty, bathed in the soft moonlight. He was insane. He had begun to believe that too, when the sleepless nights continued, and the voices never quite dissipated.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" he breathed. "Will you not just let me rest? It was bad enough seeing everyone else."

"I can't do that, my love," Milah cooed, taking a step towards him. "Hades must have his souls, yours in particular, it would seem." She trailed her fingers down his face, and he could feel a burning pain in his cheek as the life drain out of him. He gritted his teeth to keep from crying out. _Was this what it felt like to touch the dead?_ "It's a nice thought," she laughed daintily, "being with you for all eternity. Well, sort of."

Her eyes sparkled at the pain that must have been swimming in his deep blue eyes.

"I wonder how my friend is holding up against the _savior_ ," she wondered to herself as Killian's body dropped limply to the deck.

 **A/N- How's** _ **that**_ **for evil? Reviews are always appreciated, even if all you want to do is yell at me.**


	29. Chapter 29

Emma was right behind him, but he was still out of sight before her eyes could adjust to the muted light of the street. No matter. She knew where he would go. She was about to take off running when her parents stopped her from the doorway of the town hall. She wouldn't have any of it.

"Just stay here," she told a slightly nervous David and Mary- Margaret. "Let me go talk to him."

She didn't wait for their response before running down the street towards the docks. It took her a moment to realize that Regina had followed her, and was now sailing down the street alongside her. "What part of 'let me talk to him' was confusing?" she asked the mayor, slowing down a bit.

"We just discovered the king of Hell could be lurking in any shadow, and you want to go off on your own in the middle of the night? You may be the savior, but even _you're_ not _that_ good."

Emma was about to take off running again when she noticed Regina take a tentative step towards an alley across the street. _Not again,_ she thought, turning to see what Regina had seen. But, the alley was completely empty.

"Regina," she started, catching the queen's attention once again. "Maybe you should go home, and rest. There's nothing there; you're just tired."

But Regina wasn't tired, and she knew what, or rather, who she had seen hiding in the shadows. Oh well, it was too late to warn Emma now.

"Regina," a sickeningly familiar voice sang. "It's been far too long, my dear." And then, Cora was in front of them, taunting them with her very presence. It was ironic, Emma thought, as ever since she had lost Killian, for however brief a time it was, her dreams were filled with the horror of losing him. A few nights, she'd even found herself dreaming of seeing Cora's hand inside Killian's chest, reminding him to keep in line.

"Mother, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Regina sneered, playing the bit of the evil queen quite nicely.

"Oh, I think you know," she started, her eyes trained on Emma. "Everything comes with a price, Emma. You won't get out of this one." She took hold of Emma's wrist to keep her from running, scalding her skin. It was like the night with the fury all over again. One look into the ex- queen's dark eyes, and Emma was feeling dizzy. The feeling only lasted a moment though, before she was blasted away by Regina's magic.

"You, I never really cared for you the first time around and now that you're dead? You're even worse."

"Hades will have what he came for," Cora cackled breathlessly as Regina grabbed Emma's arm and pulled her in the direction of the docks.

Though a part of her, way in the back of her mind and heart, knew that this was coming, Emma couldn't help the broken sob that forced its way through her lips at the sight of the Jolly Roger. It was peaceful, and looked perfectly normal, if you avoided the spot right in front of the wheel. She made her way to him on shaky legs, dropping to his side when she was close enough. Surprisingly Regina was right behind her.

"Not again, _please_ not again," she whispered to herself over and over subconsciously. He _promised._

"This is impossible," Regina stated, disbelieving at the seemingly dead pirate in front of her. "No one steals from me, and they do, they never live to tell the tale."

Emma rubbed her damp eyes and turned her gaze to Regina. "What are you talking about?" she asked, unsure of what her statement had to do with anything.

Regina sighed, and summoned the box, just as Mary- Margaret and David reached the ship, running out of patience for the people in this town, and worried for their daughter, Henry right behind them. Waving her hand in front of the box to undo the magical seal, Regina popped the box open and smiled, lifting the heart out. "It's still here," she declared, confused, and slightly, strangely, relieved.

"What did you _do_?" Emma demanded, finally looking up from Killian's face.

Regina immediately went on the defensive. She did not need to go back to being the bad guy. "He _asked_ me to take it- to protect it. Remember when I told you that he thought your dreams were prophetic?" She asked, and Emma nodded. "But this doesn't make sense," she said, looking at the heart strangely. "He's still alive. Somehow."

 **A/N- Am I still evil?**


	30. Chapter 30

"If he's not dead, then-"Emma broke off, not able to finish her sentence. No matter who her parents were, or what they believed, she just wasn't sure if she was capable of the kind of hope they were always talking about.

"He'll be fine," Regina said, still standing over them. "We just have to figure out who else came over with _mother dearest_ and find them." Emma was about to ask exactly _how_ her pirate was _fine_ when Regina motioned for her to stand. She did so, hesitantly, almost shielding Killian's body with her own. Only in her life would she go from not needing anyone but herself, to suddenly feeling so much for someone.

She would go to hell and back for Killian; she _did_ and she could only take that to mean that outside of Henry, he was the most important thing in her life. Watching the formerly evil queen hold his heart in her hand made her nervous, so she took it, garnering sad looks from the rest of the group. Before she could tell them not to worry for her, Regina waved her hand, and they were all in what Emma could only assume was one of the lavish guest rooms in Regina's _mansion._

"What's going on?" Emma asked, looking up from Killian's hand in hers to Regina. "What do we do?"

"You're forgetting something obvious, Emma. If his heart is still beating, that means he's only unconscious. You said it yourself- this came from the Underworld, which could only really mean that someone, or rather, something, stole his soul."

Emma looked at her questioningly just as Mary- Margaret walked over to her daughter, and placed a hand on her back.

"A living person needs both a heart and a soul; you know that. Someone took his soul, which has left him in what I can only assume is the next best thing to a sleeping curse. We have to figure out who took it, and get it back."

There was a pause as Regina thought over her next words. Against all odds, Emma was sort of her friend now, and she was already going through enough. After all, Regina knew exactly what it was like to lose the one you love. "If we don't get it back before it's taken back to the Underworld, he'll die again."

"But- but Cora wanted me. Why him?" Emma asked, defeated.

Mary- Margaret stifled a gasp from behind her. "We took two souls. You said you thought he may care about some more than others," she couldn't continue.

"Hades just traded in Liam for you," someone finished. Emma thought it was her father, but she wasn't really listening anymore.


	31. Chapter 31

A sense of déjà vu ripped its way through the group of heroes as they marched down Main Street the next morning. Once again, they had decided that they had been looking in the wrong place the night before. It wasn't the soul of Killian Jones that they were after; no, it was Hades himself. As much as it pained her, Emma couldn't afford to think of Killian. Ignoring the King of Hell was exactly what had brought them to this morning to begin with.

The current state of Storybrooke, the lack of anyone willing to be out on the streets, the perpetual night- like storm had told them all they needed to know. Hades was out there somewhere, watching them like a movie, laughing at all of the sad parts. That was going to end.

"I know you're there!" Emma screamed out to no one when they reached the center of town. They had all agreed that since the majority of homes lied along side streets in the woods, bringing the fight to the middle of town was the best plan. Aside from that, the cemetery, specifically Regina's underground hide out, which now held Henry, Roland, Neal, Elaine, and Killian's body, was on the outskirts of town, near the town line. "Show yourself!"

A demented chuckle wafted its way through the air before they could see anything. "I think you'll find, Miss Swan, that demanding anything of me, is utterly _futile_." A shadowy figure was suddenly standing before them, under the clock tower. _What was it about that thing and attracting villains?_

Hades, they discovered, was more like a ghost than anything else. He was a human shaped cloud of black fog complete with razor sharp teeth and glowing orange eyes. Emma could just make out pale boney limbs under the foggy veil.

"Oh, quit staring," Hades commanded, rolling his demonic eyes. "This is simply what happens when one has spent as long as I have in the fiery pits of hell."

Emma raised Killian's cutlass in a challenging manor, smirking at Liam's snarky commentating.

"You really think _that_ will hurt me?" Hades laughed.

"There's one way to find out," Regina answered him, coming to stand beside her friend, hands alight with magic.

"I'll spare you the humility of your pathetic attempts to intimidate me," Hades hissed, and the entire group found themselves frozen before the King. "I will have my souls," he whispered, trailing one boney finger down Emma's face and neck, stopping at her heart. A burning fire blazed in its wake.

"Not today," Emma muttered, breaking free of the demon's abilities quite easily. She wasn't the savior for nothing.

Hades stood (or at least, Emma assumed he was standing) shocked for a moment, just long enough for Emma to lodge the cutlass into his shadowy form.

"My, my," Hades chuckled as the weapon fell the ground beneath him. "It has been a _very_ long time since anyone dared to defy me, especially in the name of something as fickle as _love_. You are a brave one; I'll give you that, Savior."

"Where is Killian?" Emma demanded.

"I'm assuming you don't mean his rotting corpse, correct?" Hades smirked, and Emma felt the need to hit something. This bastard would _pay_.

Hades waved one decayed hand, and a strangely beautiful woman appeared, holding a dim ball of light in her hand. Cora suddenly stood on his other side, and he grinned towards Emma. "It was nice of you to join us, Cora, Milah. We were just about to make our leave."

 **A/N- Well that's a nice place to stop, don't you think?**


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N- I'm baaaack. Okay, so I know exactly how this is going to end now, and hopefully, the story will last for a few more weeks.**

 _Let's make a deal._

 _Let's make a deal._

What the _hell_ was she thinking? She's seen the movies! Making a deal with the devil never works out right; just ask the Ghost Rider. Emma sighed and ducked into an alley way, hoping that no one saw her. This would never work, ever, but she couldn't afford to give up now. Not now that everything was on the line.

She took a stuttering breath and ran a hand over her huge and completely unnecessary dress. Yep, she was definitely in the Enchanted Forest.

 _Almost no one has ever dared to do what you did. No one is_ that _strong. No one cares_ that _much._

 _I do!_ She'd shot back at his terrifying face. Her words almost surprised her, seeing as she never imagined herself loving someone the same way she loved Killian, but, of course, nothing is impossible.

 _Prove it!_ He'd responded. _That pitiful excuse for a curse was just a bump in proverbial road. Let's see a princess fall in love with a pirate. It will be much more fun than the adventures of an orphan and a washed up sailor._

And that was how she ended up here. All she had to do was prove to Hades that their love was strong enough, that they were soul mates, and then he would let them go. He'd said something about most loves being pretentious and shallow, and that if Emma could prove that she and Killian were real true loves, then he might be able to understand her stealing from him. She had a feeling that it was easier said than done.

She sighed to herself and stepped out into a world that looked strangely like eighteenth century England. Where did she start? She had already escaped her parents and used her magic to get the better of the palace guards. Now, she could only hope that no one recognized her as their princess as she poked around for news of the fearsome Captain Hook.


	33. Chapter 33

He couldn't shake the ridiculous feeling that something was _wrong._ Of course, that made absolutely no sense, which only served to confuse him further. Everything in his life was perfectly fine, at least at the surface. The rum in his flask was fine, his beloved ship was fine, and Milah was always _fine._ But that was it, no embellishments of any kind.

Killian knew that something was _off_ about his life.

Sighing at the sight of Milah's only partially covered body in the bed beside him, he sat up, slipped on some clothes, and clicked his hook into place. Something was wrong about that too. Why hadn't the bloody crocodile just killed him when he'd had the chance? No, instead he wanted Killian to spend the rest of his days broken and maimed, with the wife he still cared for. He could still remember the monster dropping Milah's heart to the deck of the Jolly with a tear in his eye.

Coward.

Deftly, he made his way up to the deck, throwing stern looks toward the men who greeted him respectfully as he passed. Yes, he was a pirate, _the_ fiercest pirate to sail the seas, but suddenly, he thought himself _mean._ What the bloody hell was wrong with him? Since when did _Captain Hook_ give a damn about anyone's thoughts but his own?

Something _was_ wrong, and Killian was going to fix things the best way he knew how.

Smee was manning the wheel, as he had been for a few hours now, when Killian approached him.

"Have we a new heading, Captain?" He asked, glancing away from the water for a short moment.

"Aye," he began in a commanding tone. "Take us to port, any port. Whichever we happen to be closest to I suppose. I will be back to relieve you once I've eaten something."

He had a plan. Well, it wasn't too much of a plan, considering how often he partook in such an occurrence. He was going to find a tavern, lose all of his rationality in a few dozen bottles of rum and whiskey, smirk at Milah's annoyed looks at the numerous lasses who would undoubtedly hang on his every word, and then spend a few hours _making it up to her_.

Maybe it could make both of them forget.

 **A/N- This took a bit longer to get out than I thought it would. I know the basis for the ending, but I'm still hammering out the details. Plus, I'm really trying to make this last a bit longer to distract myself from the midseason premier.**

 **-S.**


	34. Chapter 34

She was going by Leia now, her own little private joke. After all, no one in this world, be it real or fake, would know about her. Unwilling to steal, (she _was_ the sheriff after all) she had magically acquired some pants and a cloak, ensuring that no one would guess at her royal blood.

It had taken a few days slinking around shady port towns before she had heard any news of the pirate captain. For the most part, there were only the tail ends of misplaced rumors, and muted whispers. _How hard could it be,_ she wondered as she made her way through yet another dingy port town, _to track down one, practically infamous pirate?_

Apparently, it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

 _What the literal Hell, Hades?_ Finding people was her job.

"Well, it wouldn't be very interesting if I just poofed you right in front of him, now would it?"

Startled, Emma spun around on the cobblestone road, only to find Hades standing before her with what she assumed was a smirk on his ghostly face.

"What are you _doing_?" Emma asked incredulously. "Do you want someone to see you and start screaming?" Ordinarily, his presence would have been unnerving, but at this point, she wanted nothing more than to find Killian and leave, Kind of Hell be damned.

"This whole place is of my own design," he huffed, annoyed. "Do you really think I would be visible to anyone else, _especially_ if it would ruin the game?"

"This is _not_ a game," she insisted angrily, trudging past the irritating demon. "The moment you put someone I love on the line, it becomes serious business."

"You're going the wrong way, Savior," Hades cackled from somewhere behind her. "You're little fiancée is positively doomed if _you're_ all he has to fight for him."

She walked on for a moment more before his words caught up with her.

 **A/N- Sorry for the wait; I've been obsessively working on some original stuff which I just recently finished. I hope this can make up for it.**

 **-S.**


	35. Chapter 35

Emma kept to the road as she slowly made her way to the next village. Hades wasn't being serious, was he? She knew for a fact that Killian had not proposed. He was her best friend, her boyfriend, her true love, but that was all she could say, wasn't it?

Suddenly, she could recall the way he had looked at her- with nervous uncertainty- as he asked for permission to take Henry out on the water a few days prior. Killian was not the type to be nervous about anything, let alone sailing. At the time, Emma had just assumed that, after the disaster that was Milah and Bae, Killian was nervous at the prospect of getting closer to her son.

And then, there was that look in his- their- eyes when they returned, before anyone had told them about Hades' grand entrance. He had been absolutely _beaming_ when he had pulled her into his arms. She supposed it made sense. It scared the crap out of her, yes, but it did make sense. After all, the best place in town to buy jewelry and the like was Gold's shop.

She wondered if Regina had purposefully included that in the curse, in an effort to keep her parents away from each other.

 _But, could I do such a thing?_ Emma asked herself as she walked. She could just see the edge of another port town off in the distance. Could she really marry someone? With Neal, it had never really been a question. She was seventeen, and for the first time in her life, she wasn't really struggling. No, she and Neal had a great time together; they had this perfect little thing going for them, and it never included marriage.

But now, she had gone to _hell_ for Killian. She knew that he was her true love. She knew that losing Killian hurt a thousand times more than losing Neal did. She felt bad for admitting it to herself, but she honestly believed that Killian meant more to her than Neal ever had.

So, why was marriage out of the question?

Before she could ponder this any further, she caught sight of something that stopped her dead in her tracks. She had just made her way to the edge of the next town, when she could see something familiar, _very_ familiar, poking up over the buildings. Was that…? It couldn't be…

The Jolly Roger.


	36. Chapter 36

**A/N- Guys, I am so sorry for the wait. This week has been a little crazy for me, and I guess the time just got away from me. Aside from that, I am** _ **really**_ **trying to make this story last as long as possible without drawing it out too far. Speaking of which, there's only one month left!**

 **-S.**

She remembered the comment Robin had made when they had found Liam in the Underworld. At the time, the stereotypical response had annoyed her, but now, it seemed like her best shot. _Fitting place for a pirate, I'd say._ And that was how she found herself nestled in the back corner of the boisterous tavern, watching, waiting.

If he wasn't here, then she wasn't sure what she would do. She knew him, knew his love for the sea. He wouldn't stay on land for long. _Please be here. Please be here._ She chanted in her head. Her next, and possibly only other option was to stow away on his ship. Seeing as no one here knew her, the real her, Emma Swan, Killian probably wouldn't be too keen on her explanation.

The sitting around had allowed her the time to think of something equally pressing that she had not yet considered. She couldn't just _true love kiss_ his memories back, which meant one of two things. Either she had to convince him to let her come with him (and what, become part of his crew?) or she had to make him fall in love with her in one night.

Right. Piece of cake.

Maybe an hour or two later, she could hear a loud commotion outside of the tavern, and it seemed like everyone in the room knew what it meant. Everyone but her. Some people made a move to leave out the back way, while others just kept their eyes firmly on their drinks. Just before the door swung open, she heard a couple of women whispering about _the pirates finally coming out to play._

And there he was, alive and well, sort of. The sight of him talking and laughing with his crew was a stark contrast to his prone body lying on the deck of the Jolly. The comparison made her cringe. _This would work, it had to._

Except that it wouldn't, Emma realized when she caught sight of Milah wrapped in his arms.

A few moments later, once they had had a chance to sit down and order some drinks, Milah looked up, and smiled at her. _She fucking smiled_. So, at least now Emma knew that Milah knew the truth. And judging by the way Killian regarded her, he didn't. She daresay he might love her as he once did.

This was going to be impossible.


	37. Chapter 37

**A/N- The ending has been difficult for me to flesh out, but I'm back now! Since my goal is to get this finished before the premiere, there may be more than one update a day. We shall see.  
-S.**

It was a couple of hours into their rampant gambling and drinking when he noticed her. Milah had been overly close to him for the entire night, sitting on his lap, kissing him every few minutes, it was a wonder he could see anything beyond her, and the fog of rum. None the less, there she was, hiding away in the corner of the room, her eyes, trained on him.

He was certain he'd never met the blonde beauty before, so why was she looking at him that way? It was too dark to see the color of her dark eyes, but the blatant pain in them was hard to miss. There was something about the woman that made everything in his life fall into place, with just a look.

Beside him, Milah threw back a mug of ale and laughed at something Smee had said. Good, she was distracted. A stab of guilt found him when he got up and made his way across the room. He loved Milah, and yet, her touch was suffocating him. In fact, he'd rather go woo a pretty blonde thing that sit next to her a moment longer.

Something _was_ wrong.

"Shall I buy a lady a drink?" He asked the woman, catching her off guard as he slid into the seat opposite her. She nodded to him stiffly, eyeing her empty mug.

Emma sighed before looking up to meet his eyes again. This was it. She had to do something, anything to make him trust her. "I've heard stories about you," she lied. "What are you doing talking to me?" She motioned to the group on the other side of the tavern. "What about them?"

"I'm not sure. There's something about you, lass. I felt I had to speak to you." This was not like him. Not at all. Captain Hook wasn't nervous or afraid of anything. But then again, according to his addled brain, nothing was right anyways. Why would he be any different?

"So let's talk." Emma supplied. Maybe this could work. Maybe she could make him fall in love with her in a night, or at least, leave a lasting impression. She supposed, at the end of the day, all she really had to do was make sure he wouldn't leave. Then she'd have a bit more time.

Surprisingly, they talked for hours with little interruption. They kept it light and happy. She told him her name was Leia, which made him pause for a moment, he told her of life as a pirate, and she told him of the time she climbed the beanstalk. This too, made him pause, and she prayed to whoever bothered to listen that this was working.

Well, it was, until a dagger flew past her head and stuck in the wall behind her.


	38. Chapter 38

"That was a warning. Next time, I won't miss."

Everyone in the tavern stood frozen as they watched what looked like the beginning of a stand- off. Milah stood at one end of the room, everything about her, wild, from her crazy hair, to her worn, dirty mix- matched clothes. Emma stood confidently, pulling the dagger from the wall as she went. She wasn't giving up without a fight.

"Why can't you accept that you've lost?" She asked, moving the dagger from one hand to the other as she spoke. "It's over. You're dead. Don't hate me," she gripped the blade in her right hand, clenching and unclenching her fist, as if preparing to send the thing straight through the pirate's neck. "Rumplestiltskin killed you. He ruined your life, not me."

"Yes, and now you're going to ruin my afterlife. Where is the justice in that?" Her dark eyes blazed as she took a step towards her enemy, and her lover. _The savior_ was supposed to bring back the happy endings, and one way or another, she would be giving Milah hers.

"Milah, what's going on?" Killian asked from beside Emma. None of this was making any sense. At some point during the night, he had contemplated Milah's reaction to all of this, he had asked himself what he would do once this fairytale of a night was over, but this was beyond all imaginings. Milah wouldn't _kill_ her, would she?

A small part of his mind realized that were he in her place, like Rumplestiltskin had been, years before, he would have killed her.

"I see she hasn't made you remember anything yet, has she?" The question made Killian pause. Was that what was wrong? Had someone made him forget the woman who had entranced him after only a few hours? Was that why everything seemed to fall into place at their meeting?

"I will. I'll make him remember," his Leia said from his right. _His_ Leia? What the bloody hell was going on? He couldn't care for her so soon, could he?

"No you won't." A sinister voice rang out. Suddenly, the tavern was no more, and in its place, a swirling blackness. Somehow, some way, Killian thought it seemed familiar, like in another life, he yearned for the blackness, for the release its ominous depths would provide. "You're out of time."

Hades appeared before them, smiling evilly through his veil of black smoke.

"You never said anything about a time limit," Emma argued.

"Oh I didn't? Oops," the demon laughed. "Well, regardless, I gave you your chance, and you failed. His soul is mine, and now that I finally have it, the soul of the infamous Captain Hook, there will be no escape. It will be so lovely to add it to my collection."

"If you want him, you'll have to kill me first."

And then, she sent the dagger, and a burst of light magic straight towards him.


	39. Chapter 39

The demon laughed, a staggering, breathy thing as the dagger went straight through him. Emma's magic on the other hand, had his foggy form slightly crumpled over, as if, for only a moment, he was winded or injured. It didn't last long.

"Did you _honestly_ think that would work?" Hades chortled, straightening out.

"Sometimes I get lucky," Emma responded. "I meant what I said. If you want him, you go through me."

"You've come a long way from that broken little orphan, haven't you?" He took a step closer, on what, Emma wasn't sure. Wherever they were, it was devoid of all things. In response to his movements, Emma stood in front of Killian. She absolutely wasn't going to let him slip away from her again.

"You know what? I think I'll make you another deal, Savior." She could see a deadly grin, complete with razor sharp teeth, through the black smoky exterior.

Killian's hand was suddenly around Emma's, and for a second, she wondered, _hoped_ that he was remembering.

"You _did_ steal two souls from me. Since you're so determined not to live without your pirate, why don't you come with us?" Emma knew this was a recipe for disaster, but with everything that had happened to her in the last few weeks, she wondered, for a brief moment, if this was the better option.

"And if I said yes?" Emma asked cautiously. She had to at least explore all of her options.

"Well, a savior doesn't really fit in with the whole Underworld scene, you know, so I doubt you'd be able to stay there. Him, on the other hand," he started, as one boney finger protruded from the fog and pointed right at Killian. "He's a thief and a murderer. I'll have fun with him."

Emma shook her head violently. "Not going to happen."

"Hey, at least if you were dead, you'd get to see him on occasion. I'm _so sure_ he'd appreciate it after my pets tormented him with your face for so long. How poetic you are."

"His memories?" Emma asked.

"Only in death will they be restored."

Emma's hands lit up with magic once again, her whole body, shaking. "You planned this," she said to him, and then, under her breath, "Son of a bitch was never going to let me leave."

"What do you say, Savior?"

"Just do it."

In a flash, a long sword, one that looked distinctively like Excalibur, as if the devil was still playing tricks, was locked in his boney fingers.

"No," Killian argued, stepping in front of her at the last second. The last thing Emma could see before exploding into a fit of rage was Killian's body on the ground again, sword still impaling him.


	40. Chapter 40

She lunged for the monster, but he easily stopped her, throwing her back with incredible strength. She landed with a thud before standing defiantly and dusting herself off. She's fought dragons, demented man- children, the Dark One, in more ways than one. She was not going to let the king of the Underworld get some kind of free pass. _Hell no._

Before she could attack him again, her eyes landed on Killian, floating limply in the stark blackness around them. Hades could wait. She dropped to her knees beside him, tears falling unchecked. "What did you do?" It was unclear whether she was talking to Killian or to Hades, but the message remained. _This couldn't be happening. Not again._

Hades sighed from somewhere near her, though at the moment, she couldn't bring herself to care where he was. She almost _wanted_ to die now, since it had been made painfully clear that she wouldn't be getting the happy ending she craved. "I suppose you win," Hades informed her.

"What?" Emma demanded.

"I am not as uh, _heartless_ as you seem to think. After all, I did make you a deal." He had Emma's attention now. What was he going on about? "The deal was that if you could prove your true love, I'd let you all live," he reminded her. "While you were trying- and failing, might I add- to make him remember you, your pirate was falling in love. Pity. Poor sap didn't even know your real name."

"Is there a point to all of this?" Emma screamed. Maybe this would be her hell; maybe she would spend eternity imagining and reliving all of her mistakes, from giving up Henry, to trying to rob the devil.

"For all he knew, Hook was giving up his life for a woman he just met. You don't do that for a stranger. I asked for proof, and he gave it."

"But that doesn't change anything. He's still-" she argued.

"You're forgetting something," Hades cut her off. "It's as I told you before- this place is a product of my own imaginings. It's not real." He took his time over annunciating the last sentence, making Emma think of some kind of convoluted nightmare. After all, that was what this was.

"So make him wake up!"

"Do not forget who you are speaking to," Hades said, his voice eerily calm and level. "What's the point in that? You're done here."

All of the sudden, they were gone.

 **A/N- So, how was that? We are almost done, maybe a few more chapters and an epilogue.**

 **-S.**


	41. Chapter 41

**A/N- I'm thinking these last chapters might be a bit longer. I'd say there are about three to five left.**

Killian's head hurt, a lot. Everything was a jumbled mess- his thoughts, memories, all of it. Where was he? What was going on? The last thing he remembered was- wait, what was it? He had to remember _something_. Okay, his name was Killian Jones, that one was easy. There was something about the water, and a ship. His- his bloody hand was missing, but he hadn't a clue why.

 _Water and a ship. Water and a ship._ He was going mad.

"Killian?" a voice asked. He sat up, his head whipping towards the sound of the voice. There were five of them in all, sitting around in a dark stony room. The one who had spoken was a young lad, maybe fourteen years old. He was holding a babe in his arms, and beside him, sat an even younger child, also holding a babe. "Are you okay?"

Was he? Maybe, he thought, if he could just figure out was going on.

"Who are you?" he asked. "Where are we? What's- what's happened to me?" At this, he held up his handless arm, gasping when he realized that the strange harness he'd felt was a brace for a gleaming _metal hook._

 **XxxXxxX**

The group of heroes stood around for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. After Emma had agreed to the devil's deal, she'd vanished. Mary- Margaret and David knew that they wouldn't be able to just go on with their lives until she returned, but, they also knew that searching for her would be utterly futile.

"What now?" Mary- Margaret asked, clinging to David's hand.

"I'd say we wait," Regina advised. "We spent months in the Underworld, and it only equated to a few days here. She may be back in a half hour if she's lucky."

"Do you think we'll still have to worry about Hades?" David wondered.

"He made a deal with an ex- Dark One. Even he must have known what he was getting into. If she succeeds, he shouldn't bother us again."

Suddenly, Regina could feel magic surround them, and then a new voice joined the conversation.

"Would anyone like to tell me how I got here?" Reflexively, David pulled his sword free just as Regina magically froze the intruder who'd appeared behind them.

"Liam?" Regina asked, before putting her hands down and letting him move. "She did it. You're alive."

"That hardly makes any sense. What happened?" He wondered. Slowly, still disbelieving, he brought his hands together and put his fingers on his wrist. He found that he was warm, and that he had a _pulse._

Another sound, this time accompanied by a bright light, had everyone turning back around, coming face to face with Emma Swan.


	42. Chapter 42

"Emma, are you okay?" Mary- Margaret asked, taking a small step towards her daughter. She _looked_ fine, which only really meant that she wasn't visibly hurt.

"I- I'm fine," she told her mother shakily, running a hand through her hair, and gauging her surroundings. It would be terribly easy for her to take a deep breath and to begin celebrating. She won, right? It was over. Or it should have been. She hoped it was. "What did I miss?"

"Honestly, nothing." David answered. Emma could see that the two of them were only barely stopping themselves from embracing her, so she took a few more steps, and found herself right in their waiting arms. When they parted, David took the chance to explain. "You were only gone for a few moments."

With those words, her mind was suddenly going a mile a minute. "Come on!" As she spoke, she was almost bouncing on her heals. _What the…?_ Emma Swan does not _bounce_. Maybe, she thought, images of Dark Ones, and twisted blades, and betrayal flashing through her brain, maybe just this once, she deserved it. "Let's go! I- I have to see-" she cut off, almost choked with emotion.

"I think it's safe to say that it worked," Regina told her, motioning towards Liam.

After a few more hugs, and an ' _It appears I am in your debt, Lady Swan,'_ to which she replied with a _'Don't mention it,'_ they were off. Well, as _off_ as a few magic users could be. In reality, Regina simply waved her hand, and they were standing outside of the crypt.

After a small moment of deliberation, Mary- Margaret sighed, and said, "I suppose we'll wait out here." And that was all the permission Emma needed. Regina entered with her, if only to magically unlock the stairway, and told her to send Henry up soon. Emma was only slightly surprised that Regina was being so kind about all of this. Not so long ago, she would have barged down there in search of her son, with no regard for anyone else.

The sight she was met with was finally enough to get her to calm down. Henry and Roland sat on the ground each holding Neal and Elaine in their arms respectively, as Henry spoke to Killian. He was awake, he was alive. For a split second, that was all that mattered to Emma.

"Mom!" Henry exclaimed, finally noticing her. He stood quickly, even with his uncle in his arms, and was suddenly in front of her, wrapping one arm around her happily. "You did it!" A moment later, he stiffened in her arms, and backed away slightly. "Well, sort of."

"What are you-" she started to ask before she was cut off once again.

"Leia," Killian sighed from his place on the ground behind Henry.

 _That bastard!_ Emma thought as she ushered the children from the room, explaining that the rest of the family, (for all intents and purposes anyway) were waiting for them outside. Of course he would find a way to beat her, even when she'd won.

"Don't you remember me, Killian?" she asked once they were alone.

"Of course," he told her. It suddenly seemed absolutely wrong to him that he only remembered her when he saw her face. What was wrong with him? "We met at the tavern, talked for hours. I- I find myself quite taken with you lass."

Emma's heart sank. How could he not remember her? How could he not remember what they'd been through? How he volunteered to help save Henry in Neverland, how he gave up his ship for her, how he promised her forever, (in not as many words) how he died and she saved him, just for him to die for her later. Their whole story was reduced to _a night in a bar_ , and Emma would not stand for it.

Regina had told her once that the magical cure all that was true love's kiss, didn't work on memory loss because it wasn't true love if the other person could not remember that they loved you. But, what was it that Hades had said? He proved his love by stepping in front of that blade, and saving her life. This had to work.

"Why did you do it?" she asked him cautiously. "Why did you sacrifice yourself for me?" _More than once,_ she thought sourly.

"I don't rightly know, lass. Maybe it was but a night; still, I felt more for you in that night than I have in years. I'm not sure I could live with myself if I let you die." He paused to take a breath and think over his words. "It was as if one night was enough to-" _To fall in love with you,_ he thought to himself, just as a more pressing thought made itself known to him. "How is it that I'm alive? I should be dead. The monster bloody killed me, and yet, I'm here speaking to you."

Emma wasn't going to take the time to explain things to him. She'd caught his slip of tongue. Now, she just had to have faith in him. She only had to believe that it was true, to listen to her mother's constant preaching and have hope.

She placed her lips on his without preamble, and a burst of bright magic exploded out from them. He responded in kind, and she took advantage of it. Maybe, as her parents said, it had been a few moments, but to her, it was days, weeks without him. She wasn't going to let go of him if she could help it.

When at last, they did part for air, she could hear him gently whisper one simple word, and it was as if all was right with the world.

"Swan."

 **A/N- Well, I believe that is it. There will most likely be an epilogue in a few days, but this was the last regular chapter. I'd love to hear what you think.**

 **-S.**


	43. Epilogue

**A/N- So, I decided not to make this one a drabble because I feel like there are some important things that still need to happen, things I didn't want to condense or downplay.**

 **-S.**

There was a huge celebration at Granny's following the devil's departure, as was the Storybrooke way. The place was absolutely filled with people talking and laughing, enjoying Granny's sweets and swaying to the music Henry had started over the jukebox. The whole thing had Emma on edge, remembering the last time her family had gathered there. Oh, but this was a happy occasion, she reminded herself, and besides, she didn't want to ruin her family's fun.

David and Mary- Margaret, being the natural born leaders that they were, thought it only right that a party was in order. After all, they _had_ beaten death. Now, if only Emma could find it in herself to let loose and relax. All she wanted was a peaceful night in with her pirate, but instead- she sighed, taking another sip of Tequila. It never ceased to amaze her, how much alcohol Granny had at the ready.

"You're tired," a familiar voice observed from beside her. Absently, she reached out her right hand to trace her fingers along his cool metal appendage. Now that they shared a heart, she felt a strange sense of unease settle in the pit of her stomach every time she was away from him, and every time, his returning presence was enough to banish it.

"It's only eleven o'clock," she told him, shooting a glance at the wall clock across the room. "Everyone's having so much fun. I'd rather not-"

He cut her off, reaching over to tilt her head in his direction. "Swan, you jumped through _realms_ today. Surely they'd understand."

And of course, they did. Her parents only nodded in understanding as she hugged them goodnight, and placed a kiss on Henry's forehead. They still weren't sure what had happened when Hades had pulled her away, but whatever it was, they could see the toll it had taken on Emma when she had returned. Her hair had been ragged, and there had been big purplish bags under her eyes. They knew that she only attended this little party in a useless attempt to placate them, so they let her go easily.

Emma felt better the moment the cool night air hit her face.

She drove with the windows down, a sweet, classical melody drifting through her speakers, and Killian's hand on her knee. For one little moment, it was like a dream come true. It was like she hadn't lived a terrible life before this one, like she hadn't fought tooth and nail (and Hell) to get here. The only thing that mattered was that she was finally herself again, finally with Killian again.

She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was a sort of emptiness inside of her when Killian was gone, like something vital was suddenly just, _missing_.

When they arrived at their house, which was no longer a foreboding castle to her, Killian helped her from the car, and led her up the front steps. No. No matter how tired she was, some things, a lot of things, were just more important at the moment. She couldn't sleep like this, not with everything swirling around in her mind on a constant loop. So instead, she pulled Killian over to the porch swing and sat, pulling him down beside her.

"I'm not going to sleep like this; like everything's fine," she told him honestly. In fact, while it was tradition here, to host some party to celebrate a victory, she was getting slightly sick of them. It was like the people in this town who actually wanted it were not the ones who killed the dragon, or fought off the witch. While her parents might have been okay with throwing parties to show their jubilation, all Emma needed was her bed, which was celebration enough.

"Whatever do you mean, lass?" Killian asked her curiously. She couldn't know, could she? She couldn't know that after she'd made him remember, an errant thought regarding the ring in his pocket had flashed through his mind. The idea of asking her that night, during the celebration of their success had been appealing, but he changed his mind at the last second. He wanted it to be intimate and heartfelt.

She gently placed her hand over his- _their-_ beating heart and sighed.

"The darkness may be out of you, out of us, but that doesn't mean it's all okay now. Once upon a time, you were furious with me, and I- I deserved it. My selfishness started this whole mess and-"

Killian cut her off with a sweet kiss. "As I recall," he began, trailing his fingers down the side of her face, his warm breath fanning her skin, " _This whole mess_ began because you felt the selfless need to save the queen from once again becoming the villain she loathed."

While Emma could admit that his words were true, she knew that there was also a lot more to this story than he said. Yes, she took on the darkness in order to save Regina, and preserve all of the work she had done to become the hero. Still, she was weak, so weak. She let the darkness consume her. Even Killian, who had lived as a pirate, who in many ways, still was a pirate, had planned the whole thing. Everything he did once his memories were restored was to save the town, and his love, from the darkness.

Thinking of that night on the water made Emma flinch.

"How about," she started, her eyes drifting downward, "How about turning you into the thing you hated most in the world, just so I wouldn't have to lose you? How about lying to you about it because I couldn't face what I did, because I thought that I was somehow exempt from the rules, that if you didn't know, then you wouldn't lose yourself? If I had just been strong enough to let you go-"

"Then I wouldn't be sitting here right now. Regardless of what we had to go through to get to this point, if it weren't for you, then I'd be dead. How could I possibly hold that against you?" It was only after he had finished speaking that he realized the error in his question. "Don't hold it against yourself, love."

His blue eyes shown with love, and she could see almost every other emotion flitter though them. She found it nearly impossible not to listen to him, but still, she had her doubts. Who was to blame, if not her?

"How could I not?" She exclaimed angrily.

"Swan-" Killian began in an attempt to calm her.

"Don't," she stopped him. "I know you know what it feels like- to lose the people you love most. Well, how about losing the same person, over and over again, knowing that it's your fault?"

Killian raised a brow in question, and clasped her hand in his. They were still sitting extremely close to one another, but somehow, it didn't seem like enough. Hell, they shared a _heart,_ and he wasn't sure it was enough.

"You were trying to help _me_ when my father killed you in the author's book." The words _father_ , and _killed_ tasted strange on her tongue. She knew that after everything, her parents, David especially, had strung up a friendship with her pirate. "You- you were _dead_ in Camelot, and that damn sword brought you back to me." Killian wanted to stop her, to try and get her to calm down, but in the end, he knew she had to get this out. "And- and then, you went and sacrificed yourself for me, _twice_!"

"Because I can never let anything hurt you, love. If I had the ability do something, especially to help you, do you honestly believe I could just sit idly by? Could you?"

"I guess I'm just the world's biggest hypocrite," Emma sighed to herself as she rested her head on his shoulder and stared up at the moon beyond their porch. "I went to Hell and back for you, and I'd do it again, in a heartbeat if I had to." She snaked her arm around him, and snuggled in even closer. "Don't make me have to, or Hades may end up being the least of your worries."

He chuckled. "Understood, milady."

Sometime later, (Emma was glad that no one had called to check on her or anything) Killian cleared his throat, breaking the pregnant silence. "There was something more I wanted to talk to you about tonight, but seeing as it's almost midnight, it appears I'm running short on time."

Emma moved away from him slightly, straightening out her back as she did so, and looked him in the eyes.

His hand disappeared inside his coat pocket without Emma noticing, and he took a moment to move the precious ring about in his hand. He had asked Henry earlier to remove it from its little box, as it proved very hard to do one- handed, and he really didn't want to fool with it tonight, and ruin the moment. If Emma thought his silence odd, she didn't voice it.

"You always seemed so afraid," he started. "Granted, you hid it well, but I could still see. It was as if you were waiting for me to disappear, to leave you, even though I swore I never would. It pains me to admit that I broke my word many a time since then. I won't have you doubting me any longer, Swan."

Sensing her rebuttal, he pulled his hand from his pocket and motioned for her to let him finish.

"I'll spend the rest of my days with you, if you'll have me. I wish I was a bit more than just a washed up old pirate, and I know you deserve much better than that, still, I must ask, will you do me the extraordinary honor of becoming my wife?"

First came the silence, and then the tears, and the shaking, and the furious nodding, and finally, the yes.

The _hell_ yes.

(They were married a few months later, their wedding, only postponed twice due to ridiculous fairytale monsters.)

(Regina was the only one to notice that baby Liam was a month early.)

(It took quite a bit of convincing to get her to keep that information from Mary- Margaret.)

(That's not to say she hadn't already guessed.)

 **A/N- And, that's all, folks. Reviews are my most favorite thing, just in case you forgot…**

 **-S.**


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